A Path Corrected
by Rannchan
Summary: Levy was concerned about her future... but will her choices turn out for the better? An Alternate way things could go in the future.
1. A Path Chosen

A Path Corrected

"You have two major roads you could take… It depends on what you want out of your life." Cana looked up at Levy from the cards laid out on the table.

Levy was lightly chewing on her light pen deep in thought. Her brows furrowed cutely and she glanced around the room—eyes stopping briefly on two completely different men. Looking back at Cana, Levy finally spoke, "So… what does it say about the outcomes?"

Cana looked down at her cards once more. Pointing to one side of the table, she stated, "This path… is hard to read. I can't see very far down that path. It's very unpredictable... and a little dangerous." Sweeping her arm to the other side of the table, Cana continued, "In contrast… this path is very easy to read… predictable and safe. You'll get married, you'll have a child, and you'll be safe for the rest of your life." Sighing, Cana looked Levy in the eyes. After what happened on Levy's last job, it's not surprising that she was asking about her future. She had nearly died in what should have been a standard retrieval job…

Levy was looking at the cards… still trying to make sense of them herself… almost as if she were willing them to reveal their secrets without having to say anything. Looking up at Cana, who was staring into her eyes, she finally spoke again, "And… what's the choice to be made? What changes my path?"

"Love. Or more specifically, who you love." Gesturing to the safe path, she continued, "This path shows a stable lover. Someone who wears their heart on their sleeve. Someone who will always love you no matter what happens and you will never question their devotion." A weird smile graced Cana's face briefly.

Levy glanced across the room at an orange haired man briefly.

Her smile disappearing quickly, Cana gestured to the dangerous path and continued, "This one is nowhere near as clear. You'll have love, but not control. You'll never know their real feelings, even if you think you do. As hazy as it appears… I believe this path has a grim end." Her brows furrowed in concern as she mentioned 'a grim end'.

Levy looked at a card in that path that clearly showed a large dragon destroying a building. At that, she glanced across the room at a large man with wild black hair. He happened to glance up at her at the same moment and she quickly looked back down at the table, flushing slightly.

Cana looked to both the men Levy had been glancing at all night and sighed. "You seem to know what the choice is. The cards don't tell me who it is… but you clearly already know the answer. You just need to figure out if you want safety… or excitement." Picking her cards back up, Cana walked back to the bar and grabbed a keg that had already been prepared for her.

* * *

-RIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG-

A hand lazily hits the alarm clock on the bedside table, quieting it. With a light grumble, Levy threw the blanket she had off of her and blinked to the room blearily. Her hair was sticking in all directions and the strap of her nightgown was hanging off of her shoulder. Swinging her legs out of bed, she got up and grabbed a brush to brush her long hair with. While brushing her hair, a girl's voice could be heard yelling from across the small house.

"Mom! I'm heading to the guildhall early! Layla said we could beat the Fullbuster twins if we got there early enough!"

Levy tied her hair into a loose ponytail as she yelled back, "Be careful! We can only rebuild the guild so many times you know!" Sighing at her daughter, Levy quickly changed clothes, intent on preventing too much damage from happening. 'Gotta stay safe after-all….' At that thought, Levy paused. A quick flashback to that fateful card reading so many years ago… Shaking her head, she grabs her bag and heads out to the kitchen, thinks better of it and just leaves for the guildhall.

The same walk she'd done every morning… Very predictable… Very safe… very….

Boring.

Levy should have seen this coming. She chose predictable and safe. When Jet had proposed to her, she had accepted quickly. It had been what she wanted. She thought…

Reaching the guildhall she already heard the sound of fighting. Just another day at Fairy Tail… Ignoring her daughter fighting a pair of twins with a pink haired girl, Levvy went straight to the bar and waved hello to Mira.

"Good morning! The kids sure are feisty this morning don't you think?" Mira was cleaning a glass and watching the young teens fighting around the guildhall.

Forcing a smile, Levy responded, "Yeah, the more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? Reminds me of you and Erza or Gray and Natsu. But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that respect." Looking at the fighters, the teens seemed to be split into two teams. Raven McGarden had teamed up with Layla Dragneel against Cobalt and Heather Fullbuster. There were no clear winners in the fight, because after a few more minutes, Lucy and Juvia had broken the fight up.

Sighing again, Levy turned back to Mira.

Mirajane looked at Levy with concern. Passing her a glass with some orange juice in it, she asked, "Are you doing okay Levy?"

Levy took a sip from the juice and responded with, "Yeah. Everything's fine. I'm just feeling a little… morose? Yeah… I'll go with that. Got any jobs for me?"

Mira continued to look concerned for her friend but grabbed a few sheets of paper from below the bar and handed them to Levy. "Here's all your translation work for the week. I think Jet's supposed to be back from his delivery today. Maybe that'll cheer you up." Mira smiled hopefully.

"Yeah…" Levy rifled through the papers distractedly, just answering Mira reflexively. While reading the translating jobs in front of her, Raven walked up to the bar next to her mother and started talking with Mirajane.

"Hey Mira! When is Gajeel performing again?" Stars were in her eyes when she asked.

Mirajane giggled lightly, "Tonight at 7, I still don't know what you kids see in his performances."

"He's the best Mira. Seriously, no one plays guitar like Gajeel!" Raven was bouncing on her heels and returned to her friends/rivals where they were all discussing the upcoming concert.

"So he's back tonight then?" Levy was holding her papers, and refusing to meet Mira's eyes.

Mirajane's eyes widened a touch as she looked at Levy, "Yeah, he's back from a job and has a concert scheduled tonight. He'll probably be back out tomorrow. You shouldn't worry yourself too much."

Taking a calming breath, Levy finished her juice. "Thanks for the jobs, Mira. I'll be in the library. Let Jet know if you see him?"

Mirajane nodded her head and Levy made her way to the library.

Just another day at Fairy Tail for the resident bookworm…

* * *

A/N – I wrote this quite a while ago, I just never got around to posting it. It's already complete. I'll just be posting the chapters randomly. Let me know if you like it!


	2. A Path Observed

Levy McGarden was bored… bored of translating papers and books… bored of her routine. Since "the incident" she hadn't been on any dangerous jobs. Team Shadow Gear hadn't done anything as a team since she and Jet had gotten married. Droy wasn't around much anymore—and Jet said he wanted Levy to stay safe and to protect Raven, but as Raven got older that excuse was getting flimsier and flimsier… Raven had finally joined the guild with her friends. She could take reasonably good care of herself. Now Levy was just keeping her nose in the books out of habit and fear.

Levy looked down at the lines of text in front of her. She had been staring at the same few lines of text over and over again… not even taking in their meaning. Her mind was racing with feelings of nothing and everything all at once. Her ability to focus on anything was waning. Blinking and shaking her head, Levy closed the book she had in front of her. This was no time for work…

Levy quickly gathered her work and the books needed to finish them into her bag. She could always work on it later. Walking back out to the guildhall, a few ice shards whizzed past Levy's head, inches from her face. Looking to the source, another much larger ice shard was headed right for her. Instinctively, Levvy grabbed her light pen and quickly wrote the word wall to catch the ice with her solid script magic. The ice fell to the ground, having been stopped cold and the wall dissipated. Looking up, Levy saw the gaggle of teens gapping at her. In a flash, Raven had sped over to her saying, "That was so cool! What was that?!" The other teens followed at a quick but non-magical pace, eager to learn the same.

Levy blinked at her child and friends. "That was my solid script magic. Have I never shown you?"

All of the teens shook their heads.

"I didn't mean to hit anyone with my ice, but it was so cool how you stopped it!" Heather Fullbuster was gushing as she half-heartedly apologized. Her shoulder length navy hair fell over one eye and she brushed it behind her ear.

Layla Dragneel punched Heather in the shoulder, "You know we aren't supposed to use long range attacks inside the guildhall! Otherwise I would have melted that ice!" Layla was by far the shortest of the group, but with the longest hair, her light pink locks tumbling down her back.

"Well you shouldn't be using Raven's speed to run and punch and then run away again!" Heather's voice was rising as the two young mages were getting forehead to forehead.

Cobalt Fullbuster shoved his way between the two and said, "Not now! I wanna hear more about Levy's magic!" Despite being twins, Cobalt had bright blue hair, reminiscent of his mother Juvia, though it was cut pretty short.

Raven nodded in agreement. "I didn't know my mom knew any magic that didn't involve books and reading!" Raven was the tallest of the group… even taller than her mother, but was very lean. She had short ginger hair that was spiked back as if constantly in a wind tunnel.

At that Levy felt a twinge of sadness. She had never even told her daughter she could use magic… Swallowing the feeling for a moment, she smiled at the gathered teens. "You know, I was once nominated for S-class…"

The gathered teens gasped, their eyes growing wide. They could be heard whispering 'No way!'

Continuing, Levy asked, "Would you like a demonstration of solid script magic?"

Right away, all four of the young mages starting hooting and hollering, very excited to see a type of magic they had never seen before.

* * *

Out at the training area, a few guild members had decided to watch the demonstration with the young mages. There was about 15-20 people gathered around, and it made Levy a little nervous. She hadn't done much magic at all in years. Not only was she showing her daughter… and her friends' children… there were a bunch of other guild members she could disappoint.

What had she gotten herself into?

Deciding to start easy, Levy shouted "Solid-Script: FIRE!" and the word FIRE appeared in front of her, clearly on fire, but since it wasn't directed at anything, just hung in front of her. After a moment, Layla jumped forward and with mouth wide open, ate the flaming words before her.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly! Fire Dragon ROAR!" Layla directed the attack right at Levvy. Some of the other guild members gasped, worried that the Solid Script mage was about to get toasted.

With quick precision, Levy brandished her light pen and shouted, "Solid-Script: DEFENSE!" The fire that had been heading for Levy dispersed on her defense. Seeing that she wasn't defenseless, the other kids' eyes started going wide with excitement.

Simultaneously, both of the Fullbuster twins released ice spears right towards Levy from both sides. With a quick spin, Levvy ducked both spears and released, "Solid-Script: SMOKE!" A smokescreen was suddenly surrounding the immediate area, leaving Levy unseeable by the fighting teens. Heather and Cobalt looked around wildly for their target before getting pulled out of the way of a "Solid-Script: CHAINS!" by a speeding Raven.

Raven's speed had cleared much of the smoke, and the young teen was looking at her mother with an admiration she never had previously. With a smirk, she glanced at Layla and nodded to her. Layla smiled widely and gathered flames in her hand. Raven quickly sped towards Layla and with a carefully practiced move, Layla was now on Raven's back. Her legs being held in place by her ginger haired friend. A quick turn towards Levy and the pair was charging right towards the older blue haired mage.

Levy was getting ready to respond to their attack when something caught her eye. For a split second, she saw a glint of metal coming from the back of the surrounding crowd. Instead of the regular defense spell she was about to cast, Levy shouted, "Solid-Script: IRON!"

A large slab of iron in the shape of the word IRON appeared right where the teens were running, knocking them both down. The surrounding crowd was clapping and cheering at the mock fight in front of them. Levy looked at the spot in the crowd she had seen the glint of metal, not seeing anything there that would have caused it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large dark figure walking away from the crowd towards the guildhall. Looking down at the iron she had summoned, she noticed the heart in the letter O and a small blush creeped up her cheeks. Quickly unsummoning the offending magic, she reached her hand out to her daughter to help her up.

Raven looked up at her mom. Levy's hair was falling out of her ponytail, she was a little out of breath, and what really shook Raven to her core was the smile on her mother's face. She had never seen her mother smile with the warmth she was showing right now. Smiling at her mother, Raven grabbed her hand and let her help her to her feet. Raven racked a hand through her short ginger hair and watched her mother attempt to help Layla to her feet as well. The Fullbuster twins jogged over to them as Layla insisted she didn't need help. The whole lot of them were laughing and smiling like never before. Looking to her mother, Raven said, "I never knew you could do stuff like that! How come you never go out on jobs?"

At that simple question, Levy's mood deflated significantly. Her smile vanished and she sighed wistfully.

Raven regretted the question immediately. Layla, Heather, and Cobalt all saw the awkward moment that had started and all made to move the group back to the guildhall. The surrounding crowd started dispersing, chatting away animatedly.

During the walk, Raven looked over to her mother. Levy still looked disheveled from the mock-fight but she was looking wistfully downward as they walked. Layla and Heather were talking about the fight to each other excitedly. Cobalt was walking slightly behind the group, glancing at Layla every time he thought no one was looking.

* * *

Walking into the guildhall, Levy was swept up into a whirlwind. Jet had swept up his wife and quickly pecked her on the lips. He was smiling wide until he looked at how disheveled she looked. His brow furrowed. "Levy… why do you look so… tired?"

Levy reached for her hair and tried straightening it out, though it was proving difficult while in her husband's arms. "Well…"

"SHE WAS INCREDIBLE!" Layla was bursting with energy, fire practically emanating from her person.

Heather and Cobalt nodded in unison, agreeing with the young fire dragon slayer. "The way she can summon anything by writing it in the air? It's so much more useful than my ice make magic…" Heather was clearly in awe of the blue haired mage in Jet's arms.

Jet looked at his wife's face with a serious look. "You were fighting? You know how I feel about that…"

Levy looked downward as Jet put her back onto her feet. "I just wanted to…"

Before she could finish her thought, Raven interrupted. "It's our fault dad. We wanted her to show us her magic and it may have gotten a little out of hand…" She had a hand behind her head looking sheepishly at her father. "But… mom was amazing. How come she doesn't go out on jobs with you?" She looked at her father with a quizzical expression. Levy looked at her feet as if they were the most fascinating things in the world.

Jet looked at his daughter and sighed. "Raven sweetie, I just want to keep you both safe. You two are the most important things in my life." He pulled the two girls into a hug. Heather and Layla were fake gagging nearby and Cobalt was chuckling at the embarrassment Raven seemed to be experiencing from this touching family moment.

"Daaaadddd… Not in front of my friends…" Raven was blushing furiously as she struggled to leave the family hug.

"Alright, alright. You kids go along now. Try to not get into too much trouble—or cause too much trouble for everyone else." Jet eyed the teens as they ran off towards their old babysitter, Asuka, who had just entered the guildhall.

Looking back to Levy, Jet's smile faded a little. His wife didn't seem her usual self. She seemed… listless.

Levy was brushing her fingers through her long hair and re-adjusted her ponytail, so that it was no longer a disheveled mess. She was looking anywhere but at Jet's face.

Jet let out a long sigh and spoke in a calm and even tone. "I'm not mad Levy. You aren't in any real danger fighting the kids… they would never seriously hurt you. You know I just worry… that's all."

Levy looked up into Jet's eyes. He was being sincere… but it didn't make Levy feel any better. "I know." Avoiding his face further, Levy walked back to the library, picking up her bag that she had left with Mira before the fight on the way.

Jet watched her go, a twinge of sadness in his face. He knew she wasn't happy... but he didn't know how to bring her spark back while keeping her safe. His brow furrowed further as he thought… This would take time.


	3. The Roadblock

Slinging her bag back onto the library table, Levy took the papers for the job she was on back out and arranged them in front of her. While she was opening a reference book she heard a gruff but familiar voice…

"I haven't seen you fight like that in years."

Quickly turning around, Levy spotted Gajeel leaning against a nearby bookshelf. His muscled arms crossed across his broad chest… his untamed main of black hair pulled back by a black bandana… and his piercing red eyes looking squarely into hers. She caught a quick breath and stuttered, "G-g-g-Gajeel! I didn't notice you there. You shouldn't sneak up on people."

Gajeel raised a pierced eyebrow at the words. "I didn't sneak up on you. I was here first."

Blushing, Levy turned away from the large, pierced man and tried to go back to the book she had been opening. "Either way… you should be more careful…"

Gajeel smirked briefly and grabbed a chair at her table, sitting down casually and looking at what Levy was reading. "Ancient Magic of Fiore?"

Levy nodded, "I need to understand more about ancient magics used in Fiore to properly translate these old scrolls." Levy gestured to the old papers surrounding her.

Gajeel let out a small, "Gi-hee" and smirked at her. "I don't know how you can keep all that knowledge in your head shrimp. You should be going out on more jobs and fighting like you did outside with the kids."

At that Levy's hands stopped flipping through pages… but only briefly. After a momentary pause she continued trying to start her work.

Gajeel knew he had hit a nerve. Not taking the hint, he continued, "Those kids were very impressed. I haven't seen them look at anyone like that since I did my own demonstration for them." Gajeel looked very smug at this assertion, flexing one of his biceps as he smirked in Levy's direction.

Levy rolled her eyes and tried to ignore Gajeel. She was making notes in her notebook when a large hand appeared on the pages, pushing the book flat to the table. Looking up, those piercing red eyes were staring into her bronze ones.

"I'm serious you know. I think you should go on a job."

Levy's heart was beating faster than strictly necessary and she hoped that Gajeel's dragon senses didn't notice what he did to her. His eyes were dead serious as he stared at her. Levy broke the eye contact and looked sideways to a bookshelf. "You know I don't go on jobs anymore. Not since… the incident…" Her glance became downcast at those words.

Gajeel grabbed Levy's chin and gently turned her face towards his. "I'm sorry." Gajeel's eyes looked pained and frustrated. The rest of him still stoic as ever. "I should have been able to help you fight back… instead of letting that speed freak run you away from the fight…"

"Don't call my husband that." Levy's eyebrows furrowed at the large man across the table from her.

Gajeel smirked at the small fire that Levy started to show through her anger. "Feel that anger? Don't you just want to do something about it, shrimp?" His cocky smile holding as much smarminess as possible. "I doubt that speed freak ever…" But before Gajeel could finish that thought, a jolt of lightning hit Gajeel, shocking him quiet. Looking at Levy, she was holding up her light pen while fuming at the iron dragonslayer. He just cockily smirked at the smaller mage, knowing that even if she was angry at him… she wasn't sad anymore. Anything was better than the constant sadness he always saw her in.

Seeing Gajeel smirk at her attack combined with how she was feeling, small tears started to well up in her eyes. Her face was still angry, and her breathing was uneven. Not even grabbing her bag or papers, she quickly left her chair and flew out of the library.

Gajeel watched her leave and his smirk instantly disappeared. Gajeel had fucked up and he knew it. He smacked himself on the forehead with his fist just as a certain black Exceed flew over to him.

"Did you ask her?"

"It didn't come up." Gajeel avoided Panther Lilly's gaze as he silently punished himself for upsetting Levy as much as he did.

Panther Lilly sighed and shook his head at his friend. "You upset her didn't you? You really have to control your mouth."

Gajeel just grumbled and got up to leave the library. He had a concert to prepare for.

* * *

Levy's adrenaline was pumping and she was very upset. She didn't know where she needed to go… but she knew it was away from the guildhall. As she angrily stomped through the hall, many people were giving her a wide berth. They had never seen Levy this angry. Raven, who had been chatting with her friends glanced over and sped to her mother. "What's wrong?"

"Not now Raven." Levy didn't even look at her child and thus couldn't see the look of shock that was there. Speeding back to her friends, Raven started talking with them animatedly while the whole group glanced at the angry mage who had just reached the entrance and left without another word.

Levy continued to angrily walk through Magnolia. She didn't know where she was going… or what she was going to do there… but this walk was definitely needed.

After what seemed like no time at all, Levy seemed to be in some sort of forest clearing just outside of town. 'Wow,' Levy briefly thought to herself. 'I must have walked further than I thought…'

Still riled up from the day's events, Levy spotted a large rock at the edge of the clearing. Closing her eyes, she thought about the excitement of her demonstration… the admiration from her daughter… the disappointment from her husband… and finally… the pigheaded oaf of a man who had interrupted her work and called her husband 'the speed freak'. Opening her eyes, they narrowed at the rock and she quickly pulled out her light pen and cast spell after spell at the offending rock.

After quite a few spells, Levy stopped attacking the rock. It had long been destroyed and she was getting short of breath… and low on magic energy.

But… Levy felt good. Levy looked at the remains of the former rock and started laughing. A light chuckle at first, she was soon laughing uncontrollably. Hands on her stomach, she fell to her knees and sat in the dirt laughing away at both everything and nothing. Tears of pure mirth had shown up in her eyes. After a few minutes her laughter subsided and she was breathing heavily while sitting on the ground. She had gone through so many emotions in the past few hours and she hadn't felt so alive in years. Part of her didn't even know she could feel so much in one day. She had given up on anything out of her normal routine.

Closing her eyes, Levy took a moment to calm her breathing. When she was sufficiently calm, she reached back to her ponytail to make sure it was not messed up and got up from the ground. Wiping dirt off her modest dress, she started to walk back towards town.

It wasn't long before an orange blur flew by. It stopped just short of where Levy was walking revealing that it was Jet. He looked a little concerned but tried miserably to hide it when he saw Levy's smile. He hadn't seen that in quite a while…

Levy was unconcerned with much of anything after her little session in the forest clearing. Smiling at Jet, she let out a quick, "Hi Jet."

This was not what the man before her was expecting. Letting out an audible, "Uhhh…" he started combing his right hand through his gray-streaked ginger hair. "I went to bring you some food in the library but you weren't there. Raven said she saw you leave the guildhall in tears. I was just… worried." At that last word, Jet set his pleading eyes straight into Levy's happy ones. At the same time, a flash of annoyance seemed to show on Levy's face, but it was only for a moment… and she was soon back to her smiling self.

"I just read something upsetting in the scrolls I was translating and wanted to get some fresh air." Levy gestured in the direction of the forest she had strolled through. "There's no need to worry about anything."

Jet smiled at his small wife and nodded. Walking over to her side, he put his arm around her shoulders and placed a small kiss on the side of her head. "Well, you should take a break from translating it for now. You can always continue it later. Hey, why don't we head home and I'll cook us up something great for dinner." Jet was leading her towards their home at a leisurely pace, looking towards Levy expectantly for an answer.

"That sounds nice."

Jet and Levy walked in the direction of their house. Jet liked to do it the slow way so he could just talk to his wife without a book being in her face. He took this opportunity to regale her with the tale of his last job (of which he made sound more exciting than it was). Levy just nodded politely and responded where appropriate. She wasn't really in the mood to listen to anyone's stories about their jobs right now… but she was still riding on a slight adrenaline high and so tried to remain as cooperative as possible.

When they reached the main road, Jet made to turn left but Levy had just stopped. Turning to look at why his wife stopped, Levy was patting her right hip. "What's up Lev?"

Levy shook her head and looked up at Jet. "I think I left my bag in the guild library. I'll go get it and meet you home."

Jet lightly grabbed his wife's hand as she made to turn right down the main road, towards the guildhall. She looked back at him quizzically. "Why don't you let me just zip to the guildhall and pick it up?" He had a wide smile on his face, thinking he had just given the most obvious solution to his wife's problem.

Levy snatched her hand away from Jet and leveled an even stare to him. "I am perfectly capable of picking up my own books from the guild. You don't have to do everything for me."

Jet was surprised at the sudden change in attitude. "I was just trying to help…"

"You were just trying to keep me from getting into another play fight at the guildhall. You know what Fairy Tail's like and you don't think I'm completely safe even there." Levy had cut Jet off and was now staring into his eyes with a twinge of anger.

"Well…"

"Don't worry. I promise I won't get into any fights at Fairy Tail." Her anger was starting to lessen as she calmed herself down. She looked Jet in the eyes and continued, "Now I'm going to pick up my bag and my books at the guildhall…. ALONE." The last word was spoken forcefully and with purpose. Levy turned on her heel and started walking towards the guildhall, leaving Jet standing in the street, confused and a little hurt.

There was no use following her… it would only make her more upset… Jet's thoughts were racing a mile a minute as he turned to walk back to his house.


	4. A Detour Revealed

Levy's walk back to the guild didn't last long. She walked with purpose, not wanting to dawdle too much lest Jet come looking for her. He meant well, but after the day she'd had… she just couldn't deal with his over-protectiveness.

Opening the door to the guild, Levy noticed that the lights had been dimmed. Looking around, she saw a large group of what appeared to be teenagers occupying most of the tables close to the stage. They were all chatting with each other excitedly and showing off different piercings they had gotten to each other.

'Oh no…'

Not wanting to see Gajeel again today, Levy decided to quicken her pace. She quickly walked over to the guild library just as Mirajane started walking onto the stage.

Closing the library door, Levy still heard a lot of loud cheering… though it was now muffled. Walking back to the table she was at earlier, she noticed the large mess. "Oh right… I didn't put away any of my papers…" Sighing, Levy started gathering up her papers to put into her bag. When she grabbed the notebook she was writing in she paused. Gajeel didn't have to interrupt her work just to insult her husband…

'But he didn't just insult your husband…'

Levy shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. Closing the book, she roughly shoved it into her bag and slung the bag over her shoulder. 'I should really get home for dinner.'

Levy opened the door of the library and her ears were assaulted by a combination of screaming teens and whatever it was Gajeel was calling 'music'. Cringing, she started towards the front of the hall. Spotting her daughter in the crowd, she paused for a moment. As much as Levy didn't really enjoy Gajeel's music, she loved seeing her daughter so happy and full of life. In the moment she had paused to look at her daughter, the song Gajeel had been singing ended and the crowd was clapping and cheering even louder. Looking at the stage, Levy saw Gajeel in a white suit, studded with iron around the cuffs and collar. There were even iron studs on his fedora. The light glinted off of his sunglasses as he smirked at the assembled crowd. For just a moment, she swore he was looking in her direction and smirking.

"I'd like to sing a new song… one I wrote for an old friend…"

Levy thought that she ought to leave… but just as she was turning to leave, Gajeel's glasses had slipped down his nose and his red eyes were piercing into hers… even from across the whole guildhall.

Gajeel started his song and the teens were enraptured. They were all staring at him in awe. The screaming from before had quieted down so that they could hear Gajeel's new song.

Levy was glued to where she stood. She was staring as she listened to this slower song. It was… actually pretty good. It was soulful and a little pleading. It seemed to be talking directly to her. The blue haired mage was getting lost in the music and losing track of herself and those around her.

When the song ended, the crowd around the stage exploded in cheers. Gajeel looked towards Levy and she could swear there was a very faint blush on his cheeks. Her face grew flushed as well and she turned to leave the guildhall. 'There was no way he was blushing… it was just the heat of the lights…'

As Levy was closing the door behind herself, she heard a familiar voice.

"I'm not sure what he said to you earlier today… but he never intended to upset you." Panther Lilly was leaning on the wall just outside.

Giving a small huff, Levy responded, "He sure has a funny way of showing it. Why would he purposefully insult my husband? That would upset anyone."

Panther Lilly sighed at the thought of his friend being so tactless… and just so Gajeel… "You know how he can be… just… don't be too harsh on him." Lilly looked Levy in the eyes before going back into the guildhall.

Shaking her head to clear it, Levy started walking towards her home. It's been a long day.

* * *

When Levy woke up, it wasn't to her alarm. The wafting smell of bacon had coaxed her out of her slumber. Stretching, she glanced at her alarm clock and turned off the alarm that was due to ring in only a few minutes. Getting dressed in a modest sundress that came down to her knees, Levy brought her long hair into a messy bun and trotted downstairs to the kitchen.

Jet was smiling away at the stove, cooking a pan of bacon and scrambling some eggs in another. At the breakfast table, Raven was still dressed in pajamas and seemed very tired. Levy wondered how late she stayed up at the guildhall watching Gajeel perform. She didn't know how long his concerts usually went. A slight blush found her cheeks as she thought about the man who had sung straight at her the previous night…

Seeing his wife enter the kitchen, Jet was quickly at her side where he gave her a one armed hug and a quick peck on the lips. "Good Morning Lev." He was then quickly back at the stove, making sure nothing burned.

"Good Morning Jet." Sitting at the table, Levy turned to her daughter, "Good Morning Raven. Did you sleep okay?" Levy gave a swift pat to her daughter's arm and to her satisfaction, Raven jumped at both the touch and the words being spoken to her.

"Wh-what? Oh… G'mornin Mom…" She was startled but when she saw Levy, she half closed her eyes again and put her face back into her palms.

Levy giggled at her daughter, but it turned into a yawn. "I guess you were out pretty late watching Gajeel, huh?"

"Hm hmmmm…" Raven lazily agreed.

Jet brought over a pair of plates covered in bacon, eggs, and a few orange slices, placing them in front of his two favorite ladies. "Is that why you were at the guildhall so late?"

Raven lazily replied with another, "Hm hmmm…" but moved enough to get a piece of bacon into her mouth.

Jet brought over a third plate and sat at the round table. He furrowed his brow at his daughter but chose not to say anything further on the matter. "Hey Levy, I'm meeting Droy today for lunch to discuss possibly taking a job together. Did you want to join us?"

Levy swallowed a piece of egg she was chewing. "I'd love to see Droy, but I have a lot of work to catch up on back in the guild. I hardly got anything done yesterday." Levy didn't mention that the last time they all got lunch together, Levy was stuck taking care of Droy's new baby while he and Jet discussed the exciting details of the job they were going to do.

"I understand. Maybe if we have some spare time, I'll bring Droy by the guildhall to say hi." Jet turned to Raven who was lazily chewing on an orange slice, "Hey Rave… Would you like to babysit for uncle Droy again? His wife has a large order at the bakery and little Dru can be quite the handful while we're trying to talk business."

Raven tilted her head to the side in thought. Taking the orange slice out of her mouth, she seemed a little more awake than earlier. "Am I getting paid?"

Jet looked at his daughter a little nervously. "Can't you just help your old dad out here?"

Levy was holding back a laugh as she drank a glass of orange juice. She knew exactly why Jet had invited her to lunch.

Raven grabbed another piece of bacon with her fork and gestured towards her dad saying, "You know I'm an official Fairy Tail wizard now dad. I need to get paid for my services. I'm not running a charity here." She then shoved the bacon into her mouth.

Sighing, Jet resigned himself to not getting out of this easily. "I guess I can ask Uncle Droy if we can spare some money for you…"

"I also accept cakes. Auntie Wanda bakes such good cakes!" Raven was salivating at the thought of one of Wanda's cakes.

Both Jet and Levy let out a laugh at their daughter. "I bet I can arrange that." Jet was smiling at this nice family moment. This was all he wanted out of life. His beautiful wife… his cute daughter… all smiling at the breakfast table.

The peaceful morning wasn't to last. Not but a moment later, a fireball could be seen outside of the kitchen window. Raven jumped up and scrambled to the window. "Hey Fire breath! Why're you so chipper this morning?"

Layla Dragneel was standing outside with a wide grin on her face. "Cause Pop is gonna teach me some tricks to get Heather and Cobalt by surprise! I wanted to get you so we can train together!"

"All right! Just let me change real quick!" Raven used her speed to run to her bedroom, knocking over her chair from before.

Levy was ignoring the goings on, knowing that this was a regular occurrence. Jet however was out on jobs often enough he wasn't familiar with his daughter's new training habits. "Hey! We're eating breakfast as a family! And I'm not so sure I want you training with Natsu…"

Raven sped back into the kitchen and gave each of her parents a kiss on the cheek while saying, "Breakfast was delicious dad, I'll see you and Uncle Droy for lunch. I'll see you at the Guildhall mom!" and before Jet could say anything else to his daughter, she had sped out of the kitchen.

Looking outside, he saw Layla jump onto Raven's back and speed towards the guildhall. Turning to Levy, who was still just silently eating her breakfast, Jet said, "Hey Levy… why didn't you jump in and stop her from leaving breakfast? I could have used your help back there."

Levy swallowed the piece of bacon she had just put in her mouth and responded evenly, "Because nothing was going to stop her. You're not here as much as I am and I know she's been taking her training very seriously. She and Layla are practically inseparable. I trust Natsu to keep their training at a level they can handle."

Jet bristled. "Well I don't always trust Natsu's judgement. He's always been very destructive and reckless. What if Raven gets hurt?"

With a rather cold look, Levvy responded, "Then at least it'll be at the guildhall where we can quickly get Wendy to help her. You can never learn how to avoid danger in a fight if you never experience danger in a fight." Levvy's ire was rising, and her good morning was waning.

"Don't you want our daughter to be safe?" Jet's voice was rising a bit as his ire was rising at his wife's nonchalant reasoning of their daughter's safety.

With an angry sigh, Levy slapped her fork down onto the table, "Of course I want her to be safe, but do you? She's going to want to go on more dangerous jobs eventually. She can't just take the boring and safe ones like us forever. She's young and she's going to be a little reckless. I would rather her be properly prepared."

Jet's face flushed as he was clearly beaten in this particular argument. Huffing, he moved to gather the dishes.

Levy was not in a good mood and didn't want to discuss the matter further. Grabbing her bag, she looked over her shoulder to Jet who had started to wash the morning dishes. "Thank you for the breakfast. I'm going to get started on my work." She then left the kitchen and followed the path Raven and Layla had taken just moments earlier.

* * *

Arriving at the guildhall, Levy sighed. She was hoping it would be a quiet day at the guildhall but was as wrong as ever. Even early in the morning, it was a lively place to be. Walking to the bar, Levy waved to a pregnant Lissana.

"G'morning Levy. How're things?" The white-haired mage handed Levvy a glass of water.

Levy took a long drink from the glass before responding. "I'm just a little upset with Jet. He thinks it's a bad idea for Raven to train with Natsu and Layla."

Lissana shook her head, "Training with Natsu is one of the best things a girl her age can do. He's gotten a lot less reckless since he became a father, but he's still as powerful as ever. Raven's lucky to train with them. Oh yeah, could you do me a favor? Erza sent us another postcard and I'd really appreciate it if you could put it up with the others."

Lissana grabbed a postcard from behind the bar and handed it to Levy. The picture on the card was one of Erza in a pretty skimpy bikini with Jellal on a beach. They were both waving to the camera and seemed to have gotten a bit of a tan from the sun.

"Sure thing Lissana. How long have they been on their honeymoon now? It's hard to keep track." Levy had taken the postcard from Lissana and continued the conversation.

Lissana cocked her head in thought. "Oh, about three years now isn't it? Sometimes I wonder if they'll ever come back."

Both girls let out a light chuckle and Levy responded, "I'm sure they'll come back for their tenth anniversary party before leaving for their second honeymoon." At this, both girls laughed even harder.

Lissana wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "It's either that or when they have a kid. I doubt Erza would let them travel everywhere if they had a baby."

"True, true. Say, how long has Asuka and Wendy been fighting this morning?" Levy was looking over into the crowded guildhall where the air dragonslayer and the gun mage were clearly having a heated fight. At a nearby table, Romeo looked uncomfortable.

Lissana sighed and looked at the pair of fighting ladies. "They've been at it ever since Romeo showed up this morning. You know how possessive Wendy gets around people she's claimed as hers."

Levy nodded. "She used to be such a sweet kid. I guess Dragon puberty hit her hard." Finishing the water Lissana had given her, Levy hoisted her bag on her should and got up from the bar. "Well, I should really get to work on the jobs Mira gave me yesterday. See ya later Lissana."

Lissana waved to Levy and grabbed the empty glass. Levy grabbed the postcard and walked over to a large wall covered in smiling pictures of Erza and Jellal all over the world. Tacking the picture among the others, Levy went to her normal place of residence… the library.

* * *

After a few hours of translating, Levy finally finished the job she was working on. Closing her notebook, she noticed some whispering from behind a nearby bookcase. Without turning her head, she listened closely.

"Can't you just ask her?"

"No, you know it has to be you. I can't go, so me asking would be pointless."

"Can I help you gentlemen with anything?" Levy had turned in her chair to look in the direction of the whispering. She knew who it was and had short patience for them.

Panther Lilly flew out from behind the bookshelf. "Hey Levy! I didn't see you there!" His voice was awkward, knowing he had been caught. Levy just looked unamused. "Look who else is here! Hey Gajeel, Levy's here!" Panther Lilly sounded more and more awkward the longer he talked.

Gajeel slowly came out of behind the bookshelf scowling at Panther Lilly. Briefly turning his head towards Levy, he gave a short grunt and nod of his head.

Before Levy could even say anything to them, Panther Lilly made a gesture to look at his wrist, even though nothing was there, "Would you look at the time? I'm late to a very important lunch meeting with Happy and Carla! I better get going!" Panther Lilly gave a very knowing look into Gajeel's eyes and quickly flew away and out of the library.

Gajeel growled at Panther Lilly as he flew out, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Well?"

Gajeel spun his head towards Levvy, his angry face not effecting Levy at all. "What?" Gajeel barked.

Levy leveled an even stare at the much larger mage and responded with, "Well, what did you want to ask me?"

Gajeel tensed up for a moment and looked away. "Who said I wanted to ask you anything?"

Levy sighed. "I could hear you two talking. Just come out with it already." Levy's patience was really running thin.

Gajeel grunted something Levy couldn't hear.

"Excuse me? You have to speak up when you talk or no one will know what you're saying." Levy had automatically slipped into her 'mom' voice.

Gajeel looked affronted by Levy's parental lecture, but spoke up regardless. "I was wondering if you would go on a job with me."

Levy looked at Gajeel, dumbfounded. "A job? Me?! Why do you want me to go?"

Gajeel grabbed a chair at the table she was still sitting at. "It's something I need your help with." Gajeel pulled a scroll out from a bag and laid it in front of Levy. "I'm supposed to find the treasure room deep within Mt Blanchard. There's something very specific the client is looking for."

"And why do you…" Before she could finish she saw something on the job posting. There was a picture of one of the walls in a cave at Mt Blanchard. "What… Do you know what language that is?" Levy's eyes were wide and she looked right at Gajeel.

"It's Draconic. The treasure room used to be an old Dragon horde. I know a little, but I was never very good at paying attention to anything that wasn't fighting." Gajeel smirked, looking at Levy stare at the Draconic writing.

"So… you just need me to translate this? Because… I don't know Draconic. I could try to find what I can, but it's going to take a lot of time." Levy couldn't seem to take her eyes off of the job listing.

Gajeel gave a short shake of his head. "Not just translate. Dragons are very protective of their hordes. There isn't a dragon there anymore, but there should still be a lot of dangerous traps in the way. I don't know what kind of dragon it is, so having someone with versatile magic would be better than someone with specialized magic. But… I would still need you to translate some things from the walls to see if they have any warnings on them. I can give you some old books I got from Metalicana to study Draconic. You'd probably be able to pick it up quickly."

Levy looked conflicted. She loved to learn new languages… but she wasn't supposed to go on jobs outside of Magnolia…Jet would throw a fit. "Can't I just… learn the Draconic from you and translate what you have?" Levy was sounding hopeful but knew what Gajeel would say based on the look on his face.

"No can do shrimp. This is only a part of what's on the entrance. No one knows what's deeper in yet, which is why we would need to prepare." Gajeel was smirking at Levy as she considered the proposal.

Levy's eyes grew wide in shock, "Pre….prepare? More than just study Draconic?"

Gajeel nodded. "I know you haven't gone on any jobs in a while, we'd have to train up your fighting skills to make sure they're as sharp as ever."

Levy paled. There was a small chance she could convince Jet to let her go out on a translating job… but if he knew she would be training for fighting, he would strictly be against it. 'But isn't this what you wanted?' Levy was conflicted. She had wanted a change in her daily routine… but she couldn't just go on a job without talking to her family…

Gajeel watched Levy thinking intensely. After a moment, he appeared to get frustrated by Levy's lack of an answer. Gajeel slammed his fist on the table which brought Levy out of her reverie. "Look, I need to leave for this in a week. If you can't give me an answer now, then I'll give you until tomorrow." At this, Gajeel stood up and turned to leave the library.

Before he could leave completely, Levy spoke up, "What will you do if I can't go?"

Gajeel stopped and turned towards Levy. "I'll probably just go alone."

"Is that safe?" Levy had a hint of concern in her voice for the large mage in front of her.

Gajeel grunted, but grinned at her despite himself. "I don't know. I'll just have to find out." With that, Gajeel turned back around and left the library.

Levy was looking at where her old friend had been standing. She was still conflicted… but now not just for her own selfish reasons…


	5. The Decision

Levy had turned in her completed job to Mira, and looked at the time. There was still time to have lunch with Jet and Droy if she hurried. Since Raven was due to babysit, maybe Levy could enjoy some time with the former Team Shadowgear.

Avoiding a few spells that were flying overhead, Levy left the guildhall, heading towards Jet's favorite meeting place.

Walking towards a small restaurant a few blocks from the guildhall, Levy saw Raven and Layla running around with a chubby toddler.

"Hurry up Dru! We have to escape the big fearsome dragon!" Raven was giving the young boy a piggy back ride as they ran around getting chased by Layla being as fearsome a dragon as the three year old could handle. The occasional breath of fire causing the small child to giggle with delight.

Levy giggled at the group and they stopped running to see who was joining in their mirth. Upon seeing the blue haired mage, they all claimed she was the true dragon and that they had to 'slay' her.

Jumping to the side, Levy figured to the only way to pass was to play along for a moment. She made a loud "ROAR!" and then summoned a "Solid Script: SMOKE" to confuse her 'enemies' and get away safely. Slipping into the adjacent restaurant, Levy saw the group look for her and declare that the dragon was cowardly and had fled from their amazing skills!

Watching the group outside continue their previous game for a moment, Levy didn't notice the man who had walked up behind her. With no warning, Levy was being pulled into a ferocious hug that had pulled her off of her feet.

"Levy! I'm so glad you were able to come!"

Turning her head, Levy saw the familiar face of her old teammate Droy. "I'm glad too, but could you put me down?" The rotund man just grinned wider, but acquiesced and put her back down.

Jet was still seated at a nearby table, sipping on a steaming cup of tea. When he placed his cup down, he was smiling at his wife and comrade. "I see you were finally able to finish your work! We've already placed our orders, but I'm sure we can get something for you too."

Levy walked over to the table and chose a seat next to Jet. Droy sat on the other side, smile as wide as his face. "So you guys are going on a job together? Does Wanda know what you guys are planning?"

Both men paled slightly, their smiles faltering for only a moment.

"Wanda knows that this is my job and that I'm able to choose what jobs I take or not." Droy seemed over confident in his assertion.

Jet chimed in with, "This job is worth good money, there's no way she would let him turn it down. She can handle Dru on her own for a few days." He was waving his hand in the air as if all the downsides were mox nix.

Levy raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "A few days? Dru's only three years old and she's the sole proprietor of a popular bakery! I hope you're willing to hire a babysitter for most of your time away. Is the money good enough to cover that?"

Droy started to look doubtful, but Jet spoke up with more confidence, "Don't you worry about it Levy! Between you and Raven, there's no way Dru would be without someone to watch him!"

Levy's eyebrows furrowed. "Have you… discussed this with Raven?"

"Well… no…"

Interrupting Jet from further speaking, Levy continued with a slightly louder tone, "And have you discussed this with… me?" An eyebrow arching significantly at the last word.

Jet and Droy both looked like they were starting to sweat. "Uhhh… not exactly… but"

"Did it never cross your mind that I might have things that I wanted to do? That I may not want to drop everything I'm doing to babysit a three year old for a few days straight?!" Levy's voice was rising even louder as she glared daggers at her former teammates.

Droy was clearly cowering under Levy's glare, but Jet seemed to find some renewed confidence.

"I need Droy's help on this next job. He needs the money and with the split, we'll get enough money to cover any jobs you would miss out on while I'm gone." Straightening up in his chair, he leveled an even gaze to his glaring wife, "Surely you understand."

"And surely you understand why you should have asked me first instead of just assuming I would do it. If you guys had asked me, I might have just done it without any issues. But since you didn't… I'm afraid to say that I have a very important job that I just took. It's going to require a lot of intense research and may take me a lot longer than your job will." Levy grabbed her husband's tea and took a sip. "I never back out of a job once I've taken it so I guess you'll have to just figure out your childcare issue on your own."

Levy placed the tea back down. A pretty young waitress came by and placed a pair of salads in front of Jet and Droy. Looking up at Levy she let out a small noise, "Oh! Will you be joining them? Can I get you anything?"

Levy gently rose from the table and smiled at the waitress, "No thank you dear. I was just on my way out." With that, she gave one last side eye to Jet and Droy, and left the restaurant.

Droy looked devastated at the browbeating they had just received and Jet just sighed and raked his hand through his hair. "I'll talk to her later. I'm sure she was just trying to make a point."

* * *

Exiting the restaurant, Levy was upset, determined, and most of all… hungry. Deciding she wanted to deal with the determination while it was still there… Levy traipsed back to the guildhall. She could always get a pretty decent sandwich at the bar.

When she arrived at the guildhall, it had significantly calmed from the fighting that was happening when she had last left. She scanned the guildhall for who she needed to talk to.

Asuka and Wendy were glaring at each other from across the room… Lucy was having a drink with a depressed Cana… Guildarts was playing with his grandchild (which explained the depressed Cana)… Natsu was playing with a small blonde child… Ah! There in the corner of the guildhall, near the stage but in the shadows, sat who Levy was searching for.

Taking a detour to the bar to place a lunch order, Levy passed everyone else in the guild by, waving occasionally but declining any invitation to join them. She had something she had to do.

Approaching the far table, a pair of red eyes stared right into hers…

"Back already?" Gajeel sounded a little impatient, but curious as to why she had returned so soon.

Levy nodded and sat down across from him at the small round table. "I've made a decision."

At this, Gajeel raised his eyebrows… or what he passed off as eyebrows. "And what did you decide shorty?"

Taking in a calming breath, Levy looked him right in the eyes and said in a confident voice, "I'm in."

Gajeel smirked and let out his signature, "Gi-hee." Folding his arms he seemed to think this was the only logical outcome. "I knew you wouldn't let me down shrimp. When do we start training?"

Levy put her hands up in a 'slow-down' gesture. "Whoa! I know we need to train, but I told Jet this is a big research project. I don't want him to get worried, so I'd like to start with learning as much Draconic over the next two days as possible. He'll be out of town for a few days after that so it would be the perfect time for the practical training."

Gajeel looked surprised. "You… didn't tell your husband about the job?"

Levy's cheeks started to turn a light pink. "Not… not exactly. I never lied to him… I may have just… omitted a few details. This job is going to take some intense research after-all. Learning a new language is never a complete cake-walk." She started playing with a long strand of hair that had come out of her messy bun.

At that moment, Mirajane had come over with Levy's sandwich and drink. She seemed to have a weird smile on her face as she looked between Levy and Gajeel, but before anyone could say anything, she had gone back to the bar.

Levy had temporarily forgotten how hungry she was. But when she saw the sandwich in front of her, she felt it anew. Not worrying about manners or how she looked, she started to devour the sandwich in front of her only taking short breaks to drink some of her juice.

Gajeel was looking at her with conflicted feelings while she ate. She hadn't told Jet what they were doing. She probably didn't mention him at all. Was all of this okay?


	6. Freedom

It had been two days since Levy agreed to take the job with Gajeel. She had spent all of her 'working hours' in a combination of the guild library and the Magnolia library. Gajeel was personally tutoring her on what he knew, and had given her all of the old books he had gotten as a child.

Levy and Jet weren't exactly getting along whenever they were near each other. Jet was still trying to convince her to watch Dru for Droy, but she was sticking to her guns. Whenever she could, she would just change the subject or else just shove her head back into one of her research books. Jet knew he couldn't understand anything about her translation jobs, and so never pried for details. This was good, as Levy didn't want to lie… but didn't want Jet to know what the job really was.

Raven watched all of this going on between her parents. She didn't bring it up with anyone, but she wasn't blind. Her parents were never perfect… but after finding out her mom was a secret badass? She questioned all she ever learned from her father. She started looking back on her life and questioning every interaction she ever saw between them. Every fake smile her mother had put on for them… and what it was that her mother really wanted.

Breakfast that morning was very tense. Jet was looking at Levy with a tense look on his face. Levy was doing everything in her power to not look at Jet at all. Raven just looked between the two in silence. It was the most awkward breakfast Raven had ever seen.

Breaking the silence, Jet spoke up, "Levy… I'm leaving on the job with Droy today. He needs you to help him out."

Levy just turned the page in the book she had in front of her.

Jet's brow furrowed further. With a quick, angry motion, he grabbed the book from under Levy's face. Levy finally looked at her husband… and she looked PISSED. Raven just looked shocked and spun her head between the two of them.

Jet spoke first. "You need to do this. For me."

Levy snatched her book back and shoved it into the bag she had next to her chair. She stared Jet right in the eyes the whole time. "I don't NEED to do anything for you. What I NEED to do is my job."

Raven held her hands up between her parents. "Whoa, whoa. Mom, I think you need to cool off. Why don't you go to the guildhall?" Levy grabbed her bag and hastily turned to leave. When Jet looked like he was going to follow, Raven speedily got in front of him to stop him. "And you! I believe you need to chill. She's obviously mad about something and I'm not completely sure it's about babysitting little Dru. I've talked it over with my friends and as long as you guys are cool with it, we can watch little Dru while Wanda's at the bakery. Even Mrs. Dragneel said she didn't have any plans over the next few days and would help us out if we needed it." Raven looked into her father's eyes, pleading him to calm down and accept her offer.

Jet was looking out where Levy had just left. He was still mad… but he looked down into his daughter's pleading eyes and instantly melted. With a sigh, Jet placed a hand on Raven's head. "Thank you Rave. I really appreciate it. Could you go ahead and let Uncle Droy and Auntie Wanda know? I have to finish packing real quick."

Raven nodded and sped away out of the house.

* * *

'Why does he have to be so STUBBORN?!' Levy was fuming as she walked towards the guildhall, clutching her bag with tight fists. 'I told him I had an important job and he doesn't care. I told him he should have asked me, and he NEVER ACTUALLY ASKS ME. It's been TWO DAYS and he just keeps telling me how I NEED to do it. I... need to work this out.' At that thought, Levy saw she had arrived at the guildhall. She knew Gajeel would be waiting for her in the library. She also knew today was the day Jet left on his job…

Barging into the guildhall, Levy ignored all the people mumbling about her and the few people who asked if she was okay. She needed to work out her frustration. Heading straight to the library, she saw Gajeel sitting at their regular table, surrounded by a few books and looking bored.

Without looking up at her, he spoke up, "Hey shrimp. You ready to get started?"

"You have no idea."

Gajeel looked up at her and noticed her angry face.

Without waiting for Gajeel to say anything else, she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the library. Unfortunately for her, he was much larger than her, and wouldn't move unless he wanted to move.

"What's wrong? Why are you upset?" Gajeel had a crease in his brow and stood up, knowing that studying wasn't on the docket for the day.

Levy gave a small huff. "I think it's time to train for real. Let's go." Levy was gesturing to the door to the library, waiting for Gajeel to join her in going to one of the guild's practice fields.

Not one to argue about a good training session, Gajeel grinned and followed the smaller blue haired mage. He didn't know why she was so mad, but he would use it to his advantage.

Walking through the guildhall, everyone was watching the two of them. There was a lot of muttering amongst the other guild members. Or at least… there was… until Gajeel stared every one of them down with a slight growl and a pronounced sneer. Walking out to the training grounds, Gajeel gave a look towards Mirajane, who nodded knowingly. She would make sure no one followed them, it was a private training session.

Levy turned towards Gajeel when they reached the nearest training area. He shook his head and kept walking. Levy gave a small 'Huff!' but followed him anyway. This repeated at every training area they passed, until they finally reached a forest clearing a ways from the guildhall. It was still owned by Fairy Tail, but was hardly ever used due to its distance.

Gajeel finally turned to Levy, who was already slightly winded from the walk. "If you're going to get tired from that, you really do need to train." Gajeel shook his head at Levy.

Levy was still really mad, and none too happy at what Gajeel was insinuating. Grabbing her light pen while he wasn't looking, Levy cast "Solid-Script: FIRE!"

With Gajeel's highly trained senses, he deftly dodged the attack, and started towards Levy.

As quickly as she could react, she stepped back and summoned "Solid-Script: DEFENSE!" The invisible wall it seemed to summon was just in time. Gajeel's hand hit into it only inches from Levy. Gajeel was smirking and backed away for a moment. Levy let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and a moment later, Gajeel had gotten around her defense and grabbed both her arms, holding them behind her back.

"Got ya."

His breath was hot but oddly sent a shiver down Levy's spine. She struggled against the iron dragonslayer and he laughed.

"This isn't funny! Fight me for real!"

"You don't mean that shrimp. You just want to let off some steam. I need you to be able to concentrate and think about what you're doing." Gajeel let her go and she looked him in the face. His expression was serious and her anger dissipated slightly. "There you go. I need you to want this training… but I also need this training to actually DO something for you. I figured your anger would be helpful, but it seems all it's going to do is make you reckless. I won't ask ya what's wrong, but while we're out here, I need you to be here. COMPLETELY here." He gestured down to the place they were at. "There's no point if you're just going to be a reckless liability."

Levy looked Gajeel in the eyes. He was serious. He was REALLY serious. Giving a sigh, Levy spoke up, "I'm sorry. We only have a few days to train properly, and the job is rapidly approaching. What should we do?"

Gajeel grinned again. He was in charge… and he was going to make sure she got the most out of this.

* * *

That night, Levy was walking home exhausted. They had only taken a break for lunch, but had also worked late. She hadn't had dinner, but was too tired to make anything either. Opening her front door, Raven got up from the couch and ran to Levy, excited about something.

"Mom! Is it true?! Did you spend the day with GAJEEL?!" Raven had stars in her eyes and she thought about her mom spending any kind of time with her favorite musician.

Levy was taken aback by the sudden question and enthusiasm of her daughter. "Yeah, I guess it is. He's an old friend of mine and was helping me with something." Levy looked around guiltily.

Raven didn't notice and just gasped. Her mom had been friends with GAJEEL?! "No way! Were you guys friends when you were a badass?"

"Watch your language young lady." Levy brought out her mom voice. "Yeah, he was my partner for the S-Class trials when I was younger…"

Raven was star-struck. "You have to tell me everything!"

Levy looked as if she was making towards the couch to sit and regale her daughter with tales of her youth, but feeling a twinge of pain in her side, Levy thought against it. "How about I tell you some other time. Mommy's really tired tonight. Good Night sweetie." Levy tried to kiss her daughter on her head, but was having difficulty with the fact her daughter was taller than she was.

Raven bent down to let her mom give her a kiss, and bade her good night.

* * *

The next morning, Levy's alarm was going off as usual… but Levy didn't stop it. Groaning, she turned over slightly and pulled her covers over her head. After some time of her alarm ringing loudly, an orange blur entered the room and shut it off.

"Oi! Mom! It's time to get up!" Raven had started to pull the covers away from her mother, but Levy just held on to them tighter, groaning.

"No…."

Not taking no for an answer, Raven held onto the blanket and used her magic to speed away to the other side of the house. Levvy's grip wasn't strong enough to hold on to it that long, but she had been holding onto it long enough that she ended up on the floor, her hair a tangled mess, and her camisole riding up her midriff. Raven sped back without the blanket, and started to help her mother up from the floor.

Levy let out a slight hiss as her muscles ached all over. 'I'm going to have to remember to stretch… I'm not as young as I used to be…' Levy's thoughts were only on her aching muscles, and not at all on what time it was, or who she was late meeting.

"Mom! You have to get up. Gajeel's looking for you all over the guildhall!" Raven was trying desperately to bring her mom completely to her feet.

Finally hearing what Raven was saying, Levy's eyes shot open. "Oh no… what time is it?"

"It's nearly 10! You've been in bed all morning!"

Levy let out a soft swear under her breath and tried to stand on her own. Another hiss escaped her lips as she felt the pain in her legs. Looking to Raven, Levy asked weakly, "Hey sweetie? Could I ask you to do me a favor?"

Raven rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "What do you need? It's my turn to watch Dru at noon."

Levy tried stretching her arms and shoulders, hearing a distinct POP coming from them as she did so. "Ow… I think I need a hot bath to loosen up some of the tension in my joints. Would you mind going back to the guildhall and telling Gajeel that I'll meet him for lunch?"

Raven had a broad smile on her face. Another excuse to talk to her idol Gajeel? "I'm on it!" And with that, Raven sped out of the house.

Levy rubbed one of her shoulders as she headed to her bathroom to start a nice hot bath. She really hoped her daughter wouldn't catch on with what was happening… or at least would never tell her father…


	7. A Path Discovered

At about 11:30, Levy McGarden was clean, dressed, and walking into the Fairy Tail Guildhall. Her hair was in a low ponytail and she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a blue tank top that matched her hair. A simple white headband was holding back her flyaway hairs, completing the look. Looking around the guildhall, she spotted exactly who she was looking for… and let out a giggle when she saw the scene.

Gajeel was sitting in a chair by the stage, being lavished with attention by Raven, Layla, Cobalt, and Heather. Heather was holding little Dru in her lap, and Layla seemed to have Panther Lilly in hers. The four teens were star struck and wanted to ask Gajeel about not only his music, but his adventures as a high level Fairy Tail wizard. Gajeel seemed only too happy to oblige, with Panther Lilly joining in the stories occasionally.

As Levvy approached their table, she heard Raven ask about the S-Class trials.

"Which time?" Gajeel was grinning, he couldn't get enough of the admiration.

The teens just gazed in wonder, but Raven spoke up first, "I wanna know about the time you teamed with my mom!" The others nodded in unison, wanting to know more about Mrs. McGarden back when she was a badass.

"Shouldn't I be here for that story?" Levy had sauntered up to the table. Gajeel smirked in her direction, Lilly gave her a friendly greeting, and the kids all exclaimed that, yes, she should be here to help tell that story.

Levy's stomach gave a weak growl and she blushed for a moment as she sat down at the table.

Gajeel gave her a side-eye. "You should really eat some lunch before you get to work. But you can always eat while I regale them with tales of our greatness. Gi-hee…"

Panther Lilly rolled his eyes. Getting up from Layla's lap, he summoned his wings, "I don't think the kids can wait any longer for the story, I'll go get you some food Levy." Lilly then flew off to the bar to get Levy something to eat.

Altogether, Between Gajeel, Levy, and Panther Lilly… The story of the Tenrou Island S-Class trials took them about two hours. It wasn't an all-encompassing tale, but it covered all the bits with Levy and Gajeel. The four teenagers were captivated by every moment of the story… except when little Dru got bored… After noon, Dru switched from Heather's lap over to Raven's. This made it hard to concentrate on the story, but she enjoyed every moment she could listen to. Watching her mother and Gajeel tell a story together was electric. It wasn't even how much she loved Gajeel as a performer… Something about the chemistry between Gajeel and her mother was intriguing. They were… very comfortable together. Almost… playful? She had never seen her mother like this. She was usually so stern… or gentle… she never saw her frivolous side.

Lissana had long since taken away Levy's empty plate, and Gajeel looked at a clock on the far wall. "As much as I love talking to my adoring fans, I do believe I have some work to do." Gajeel rose from the table and bid a goodbye to his informal fan club. He gave a significant look to Levy and she instantly knew what she needed to do.

"Yeah, I slept in way too late this morning. I should really be getting to work myself." Levy made to leave the guildhall, walking in the direction of the Magnolia library.

Raven watched them both leave with a conflicted heart. What did all of this mean? Turning to Cobalt, Raven adjusted the small child in her lap. "Hey Cobalt, I'm supposed to watch Dru until Wanda picks him up later but I just remembered something I needed to do. Could you take care of him?

Cobalt looked at Raven incredulously, "You wish. I don't want to take care of that little crap-bucket."

Layla was conflicted. She saw the disappointment in her best friend's face, but she didn't want to watch Dru when it wasn't her turn either… In the end, friendship overcame. "Hey Rave, I don't really want to watch him either, but I'll watch him for you. I know you've got my back." Layla smiled warmly at Raven.

Seeing Layla's smile, Cobalt melted. "Heh, did I say I didn't want to take care of him? I meant I didn't want to watch him alone. I would be more than happy to help if you need any Layla…" He was laughing awkwardly at Layla.

Raven smiled and passed Dru to Layla, who proceeded to pass him to Cobalt. "I'll see you guys later!" Raven sped out of the guildhall. She needed to know what her mom was up to…

* * *

After making sure no one was following her, Levy made a turn away from the library, heading towards the Fairy Tail training grounds. She headed to the same one her and Gajeel used the previous day and saw he was already there, setting up a few logs.

"Why weren't you here this morning?" Gajeel's gruff voice seemed a little agitated. Nothing at all like it was in the guildhall only minutes prior.

"I was too sore to get out of bed… You worked me way too hard yesterday." Levy dropped her bag at the edge of the clearing, still sounding a little sore about the subject.

Gajeel let out a small grunt. "I didn't work you too hard yesterday… you haven't been working hard enough in the past fifteen years."

Levy was taken aback, but didn't say anything in response. As much as she knew what he said was true, she didn't like hearing it.

Not waiting for a response, Gajeel placed one last log vertically in the clearing. There were quite a few of them scattered about. "Since yesterday made you sore, you should really be doing some stretches right about now, eh?" Gajeel was standing tall over her.

"Oh… oh yeah. I should get started on that…" Finding a clear spot not full of logs, Levy started doing some very basic stretches. She was still a bit sore, but the stretching was actually helping. As she bent over to touch her toes, she heard something clatter to the ground behind her. Looking back, Gajeel was clearly blushing, and had knocked over a few of the logs he had previously set up. He quickly looked away and set the logs back where he had them previously. Levy smirked and finished up her stretching. Sometimes it was nice to know she still had it.

Gajeel was steadfastly not looking at Levy as she finished. He needed to clear his head… She was married… he had no claim and should not be thinking those things. This was just training… Breathing deeply, Gajeel tried to desperately clear his head. His eyes were shut, so he didn't notice when Levy approached him.

"Gajeel, I finished stretching. I'm ready to start." Levy tried to get his attention, but it was no good. Picking up a small rock she found on the ground, she lobbed it at him.

The small rock hit Gajeel in the shoulder. He snapped out of his reverie and looked around. Seeing Levy, his cheeks turned only the palest shade of pink and he absentmindedly rubbed the spot the rock had hit.

"I'm ready to start." Levy repeated herself, now that she had his attention.

"Yeah." Gajeel quickly composed himself. "I'm sure there's going to be places with limited foot holds. It happens often in deep caves. I need to know your balance is up to the task… and that you can cast spells while not falling and moving forward in case something decides to chase us." Gajeel gestured to the logs he had carefully laid out earlier. "These logs are fairly balanced, but of different sizes and different heights." He turned towards Levy and smirked, "We're going to practice fighting while staying on the logs. You're not allowed to touch the ground for any reason."

"And if I touch the ground?" Levy cocked an eyebrow at the dragonslayer in front of her.

Gajeel was about to respond but stopped. 'SHE'S MARRIED!' Gajeel was yelling at himself in his head. He shook his head for a moment and responded to Levy, "Every time you touch the ground, you have to buy me a drink."

Levy thought on this for a moment and put her hands on her hips, "And if YOU touch the ground?"

Gajeel let out a large laugh.

Levy didn't seem to find this funny. After his laughter quieted down, she continued, "Every time YOU touch the ground… you have to buy me a new book."

Gajeel smirked at Levy, "Gi-hee—IF I touch the ground."

Levy smiled and put her hand out to Gajeel. "Deal."

Gajeel grabbed her hand in a friendly handshake, "Deal."

* * *

Levy was panting. They had only been at this training for an hour but it was exhausting. Trying to balance on the logs had been a lot more difficult than she had imagined. She had already fallen about five times and Gajeel had yet to leave the logs even once.

"You tired already?" Gajeel was still acting like this was a warm-up, which for him was probably accurate. He was twirling a chain he had created.

"Not on your life, steel-breath." Levy jumped to another log and threw a "Solid-Script: Ice" towards Gajeel's feet, hoping to destabilize the larger man.

Gajeel deftly hopped a few logs away and threw the chain towards Levy. Levy managed to dodge the chain, but landed on the edge of a nearby log and lost her footing. For the sixth time that session, Levy fell right on her butt.

"Owww…" Levy rubbed her posterior as she took a small break to breathe.

Gajeel hopped across various logs and landed on one close to where she fell. "You okay shorty?"

"Yeah. This is just harder than I thought."

"That's why we're here training. There's a chance you won't even have to do anything like this. But if there is, you should be better prepared for it." Gajeel stretched out his hand to help Levy up. "Besides, out in the cave, I'll be trying to help you… not hurt you."

Levy grabbed his hand and in a split second, tried to pull him to the ground. Gajeel reacted quickly and with his other hand grabbed another log. The hand Levy was holding transformed into a smooth metal bar that she was unable to hold on to. With a quick flip, Gajeel pushed himself into the air and landed deftly onto a log half-way across the field. "Gi-hee… I thought this was a friendly competition?" The smirk on his face was extra cocky as Levy slipped back onto the ground with a soft 'thud'.

Levy gave a small pout and got herself back onto her feet.

Levy was about to jump back onto a log when Gajeel's face went serious and he held up a hand to Levy, signaling her to stop what she was doing. He gave the air a quick sniff, listened to the clearing intently, and out of nowhere, transformed his arm into a battering ram which he stretched to attack a nearby bush. When his arm made connection to the bush a high pitched yelp could be heard.

"Who's there?!" Levy turned to the bush and readied her light pen.

All of a sudden, Raven had stood up from behind the bushes. "It's just me! Don't attack!" Her voice was clearly scared and she quickly removed herself from the bushes with her hands up.

Gajeel looked annoyed but slightly amused. "What're you doing here string bean?"

Levy was split between being curious as to why Raven was there, angry that Raven was spying on them, and just plain amused by the nickname Gajeel had chosen for her daughter. In the end, she decided to go with a combination of one and two. "Why were you spying on us? Why are you here?" She had put on her best angry mom voice she could muster and stood staring at her daughter with her hands balled up on her hips.

Raven looked sheepishly to the ground and mumbled something Levy couldn't hear.

Gajeel just glowered at her.

"You'll need to speak up Raven Jet McGarden. I couldn't hear you." Levy's mom voice was at full power.

Raven flinched when she heard her full name. Looking back up to her mom, standing only a few feet from her, and glancing up to Gajeel who was still balancing on a nearby log, Raven let out a long sigh. "I… wanted to know what the job you were doing was about. Since Gajeel was looking for you this morning I thought that maybe you were doing something for him. I was just curious is all." She hung her head in shame.

Levy remained as puffed up as she could for her size and spoke very sternly while looking up at her daughter, "You shouldn't spy on people. It's bad manners and could get you hurt or worse. You could have just asked me about my job."

Raven looked up at her mom, "Would you have told me you were training for fighting? I know dad doesn't approve of you doing anything dangerous…" Raven was standing awkwardly, rubbing one of her arms.

"I…" Levy stopped mid-sentence. Would she have told her daughter? Or would she have evaded the truth? Or worse… would she have lied to her?

Gajeel hopped to a closer log. "We don't need to worry about that right now… but for safety, anything that happens in this clearing is only between us. Right string bean?" Gajeel looked right at Raven.

Raven looked at Gajeel with wide eyes, "Ri- Right!"

"And anyways… spying can get you some good jobs in Fairy Tail… if you're good at it. Let me give you a few pointers sometime." Gajeel was grinning at Raven while Raven had become dumbstruck at the idea that Gajeel would give her pointers about anything.

"Gajeel!" Levy turned her mom voice to Gajeel. "I don't need you teaching my daughter how to become a BETTER spy!"

Gajeel smirked at Levy, "Why not? With her magic, it would be a piece of cake. Could make good money."

Levy just sighed in frustration and lobbed another rock towards him.

Gajeel jumped to the next log over and grinned even wider.

Getting an idea, Levy walked over to Raven and gestured her to lean in closer.

Gajeel watched as Levy whispered something into Raven's ear and tried to use his dragon hearing to make out what they were saying. Before he could decipher what they were talking about, both girls broke apart and nodded to one another. Levy hopped back onto one of the logs and faced Gajeel.

"Do you mind if Raven stays to watch? Watching more experienced wizards fight is always good training for our younger generation." Levy sounded confident and readied her light pen.

Gajeel grinned and said, "Don't bother me none if you want to fall in front of string bean, shrimp." With that, Gajeel leaped towards Levy, his arm turned into a blade. Levy bounded to the side, hopping only one log away and summoning "Solid-Script: Smoke!"

Gajeel couldn't see very well anymore, and couldn't smell much either. Seeing only the logs directly around him, he was fairly pinned into place. Hearing something flying through the air towards him, he hopped only one log to the right and turned around. A set of chains flew right through where he was standing before. Grinning, he said, "Now I got you…" Gajeel thrusted his sword-like arm in the direction the chains had come from. The blade hit nothing… and before Gajeel could change his momentum, another set of chains came at him from directly behind. These caught him off guard and he fell to the ground with a slight 'oof'.

A pair of voices let out a whoop and Gajeel could hear what had to be a high-five. As the smoke dissipated, Gajeel saw clear as day, Levvy was on Raven's shoulders, Raven holding onto Levy's legs.

"You cheated!" Gajeel protested as he pulled himself up from the ground.

"You just said I wasn't allowed to touch the floor… you never said other people weren't allowed to touch the floor…" Levy's voice had gone a little sing-song and Raven was laughing heartily at what they had managed to pull off.

Gajeel got back onto the logs and brushed some dirt off of his gear. "Heh… I guess you're right, but now if string bean wants to join in… she has to get on the logs too. No ACTIVE participants are allowed to touch the floor…"

Raven blanched and let her mom back onto the logs. "I'm good over here." Holding her hands in front of her, she backed up to the edge of the clearing and sat down, content to watch.

Levy looked sympathetically towards her daughter. "Thanks for your help anyway Raven."

The training continued. Raven was watching with rapt attention, enjoying every move she saw Gajeel pull off, and enjoying the ferocity her mother was showing on the battlefield… even if it was only training. Gajeel never seemed to fall from the logs, but Levy would occasionally succumb to the floor. Raven winced every time it happened.

After the most recent fall, Levy called out, "TIME OUT!"

Gajeel hopped off the logs and walked over to her. Raven got up from where she sat and did the same.

Levy was fighting some of the long strands of her hair that was sticking to her face and arms. Her sweat was making it impossible to completely separate herself from the long tangled mess. Getting frustrated, she turned to Gajeel. "Do you have a knife?"

Gajeel turned his arm into a large sharp sword and placed it in front of Levvy. Before anyone could say anything to stop her, she grabbed his arm on one hand and her hair in another. In one fluid motion, she chopped off her entire ponytail.

Raven covered her mouth as she gasped. Gajeel's eyes went wide.

Everything seemed to slow down as the long strands of blue hair seemed to fall to the ground.

Re-adjusting her headband, Levy shook her head and smiled nonchalantly. Clapping her hands together, she said, "Alright, I'm ready to train again."

Gajeel was standing perfectly still, his arm still in its sword form. He was shocked. Even if they kept everything else a secret… This was noticeable.

Raven just stared at her mother. She had never seen her with short hair other than some old pictures from when she was young. She was watching her mother change before her very eyes and it was shocking.

Levy looked back and forth between Gajeel and Raven. "Hello? Training? Why we're here?"

Raven spoke first, "You… cut your hair…" She still sounded like she didn't believe what had just happened.

"Yeah, Long hair is hard to fight in. I missed my old look anyway." Levy ran her hands through her now shorter locks.

Gajeel spoke up next, "Everyone's going to ask why you did it you know…"

"I just missed my old look. I always used to cut my hair short… I don't think it's that big a deal." Levy was getting a little worried at how everyone was acting already.

"Mom? I've NEVER seen you with short hair… I think people are going to notice." Raven just starred at her mother's new hairdo. To be honest, it looked great. Somehow, the way she chopped it with Gajeel's arm seemed to cut everything at a nice length for a slightly messy short hair look. Combined with the emotions she's seen her mom exhibit in the past week, Raven wasn't sure if she could be recognized as her mom anymore…

Levy got a little more nervous and started playing with the tips of her hair. "It's too late to do anything about it now!"

Gajeel shook himself out of his stupor and changed his arm back to normal. "Right. It's too late to put it back and we only have another hour of daylight left before we have to stop training for the day. We should spend our evening brushing up on Draconic at the library. I don't want to lose the work we've already done." He looked towards Levy and she nodded back at him. They had no time to waste…

Raven sat back at the edge of the clearing. Her mind was racing. 'Is this what mom was like before she got married? Why did she marry dad if staying home and not fighting makes her so miserable?' Raven tore her eyes away from the fighting pair and she looked at the blue locks that lay on the floor of the clearing. 'What does Gajeel mean to my mom?'


	8. The New Normal

As expected, when Levy arrived at the guildhall the next day, there was talking everywhere. Lots of people looked shocked and a few people gave her the thumbs up. When she reached the bar, Mirajane's mouth was agape. "When did… how did you… why…" Mira couldn't even finish a single sentence.

Before Levy could respond to the flabbergasted bartender, Lucy was bounding up to her friend.

"Levy! I love what you did to your hair!" Lucy was excited and looking over Levy in every direction she could muster while holding a toddler.

Levy looked to Lucy, leaving Mira still gaping at her, "Thanks Lucy! I kinda missed my old hair and decided, why not?"

Mira seemed to regain some of her composure, and joined in, "Levy! Your hair does look fabulous, but what will Jet say? He's scheduled to get back from his job tomorrow. Does he know you did this?"

Levy gave a small snort. "I don't need Jet's permission to get a haircut."

Mira just gave a small, "Uh huh…" and looked at Levy skeptically. "So that's why you did it while he was out of town then?" Mira sounded almost accusatory in her tone.

Levy's cheeks turned a pale pink and she denied anything of the sort. "That's not why at all! I was just thinking about it, that's all."

Lucy sat down at the bar and balanced her youngest daughter on her knee. "I don't think you need to worry about Jet. This is like the cut you had back when you married him. If he didn't like it, you would know."

Levy laughed with Mira and Lucy. It was slightly hollow though, as she knew Jet preferred her with long hair. He wasn't going to take this well at all…

The three women chatted while Levy and Lucy ate some breakfast they had ordered from Mira.

"Aren't you a little YOUNG for Romeo?!"

"Aren't you a little TAKEN for Romeo?!"

The three women turned to the commotion that had just started.

"There they go again." Mira sighed.

"I'm sure glad not all dragonslayers get like that…" Lucy took a sip from her water.

Levy turned to Lucy, "Natsu may be fine… But you do have a young dragonslayer you need to watch out for." She grinned at her friend.

Lucy looked at Levy with a mock-shocked face, "Don't you even joke! If Layla ever gets like that, we'll all be doomed."

The three laughed again, watching the fight that was about the take over much of the guildhall.

While Levy watched the action in the guildhall, Gajeel arrived. Grinning, he looked to Panther Lilly who just grinned back. After just a moment, both had entered the fray and Levy was shaking her head at her training partner.

Deciding not to disturb Gajeel, Levy excused herself from her friends and casually walked to the library. She had to dodge the occasional flying object, but made it there untouched. She might as well do a little work while Gajeel got his warm-up in.

Before Levy could crack open a single book, Gajeel had found his way into the library, sans Panther Lilly. Grinning cockily, he said, "What? You're not up for a morning work-out?"

Levy just smirked back, "I was just waiting for you to finish up. I'm ready if you're done?" Levy was asking as if Gajeel was just going to get sucked back into the fight.

Gajeel let out a loud, "HA!" Grabbing Levy's bag from her, he turned to leave the library, "There wasn't even a challenge out there this morning. Just a bunch of wimps trying to see who's strongest. Let's get going."

Shaking her head at Gajeel, Levy followed to the training ground. Because of the fight, no one seemed to notice them leaving. Or at least they thought so.

Over at the bar, Mira watched Gajeel and Levy leave, Gajeel holding Levy's bag as they did so.

"Hey Lucy? Remember that theory I had a long time ago?"

Lucy looked at Mirajane in confusion. "You're going to have to be a lot more specific Mira."

Mirajane had a thoughtful look on her face as she continued to look at the door. "The theory about who Levy liked… before she married Jet?"

Lucy thought about it for a moment. "Oh yeah… You were way off weren't you?" Lucy was smiling wide and waving a small stuffed exceed in front of the blonde child in her lap.

Mira furrowed her brow and looked at Lucy. "I don't think I was…"

* * *

Back at the training ground, Levy and Gajeel had cleaned up the logs and were doing other exercises. Gajeel would build small obstacle courses out of his metal, and kept Levy on her toes. She never quite knew what to expect… and that was the point. By the time lunch rolled around, Gajeel was actually starting to feel a little tired from building all the obstacles.

Levy sat at the edge of the clearing, wiping the sweat off her brow with a small towel she had brought. As tired as she was… she was feeling better than she had in years. Who knew a little exercise was all she needed? Looking across the field, Levy saw Gajeel cleaning up the last set of obstacles he had built. It was an extremely hot day, and with all the work both mages were doing, Gajeel had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his head like a bandana to keep his hair out of his eyes. Levy's eyes strayed to his bare chest and she turned her head away, blushing. Maybe it wasn't just the exercise that was making her feel good… Shaking her head, she reminded herself that even if it wasn't just the exercise, it wasn't anything about Gajeel specifically… it was just spending more time with an old friend. It could have been Lucy, or Bisca, or Droy and she would feel just the same. She just needed to spend more time with her friends.

"Oi… you should get some lunch before we continue."

"Huh… what?" Levy looked back up to Gajeel who was now standing over her.

"You need to eat something Shrimp. We leave in two days, and I don't need you getting sick or hurt before we go." He had his arms crossed over his bare chest, using his best authoritative voice.

"Oh… I didn't bring a lunch… I better head home…" But before Levy could get up from her place at the edge of the clearing, an orange blur arrived holding a large basket.

Raven took one of her hands off of the handle and gave a small salute to both Gajeel and Levy. "Raven of Fairy Tail, reporting for duty! I have a delivery here from Mirajane. She wanted me to bring this out to you guys." When she stopped saluting, she placed the basket down next to Levy.

Levy looked at the basket and then back to Raven. "Did… you tell her where we were or what we're doing?" She sounded just a little worried. The gossip queen of the guild was the last person she wanted to know about her training with Gajeel… even though there was nothing wrong with it. It just wasn't her business.

Gajeel's eyes narrowed at Raven as he waited for the answer as well.

Raven put her hands up in defense, "No way! You guys said this stays between us, and I never break a promise. I was just finishing my shift of watching Dru, and Mira asked me if I could bring this to you, mom. She only said to bring it to you, but she packed a lot of food…"

Levy opened the basket and there was a veritable lunch-time feast. Sandwiches of every kind, potato salad, various fruits and chopped vegetables… Even bottles of water that still seemed to be ice cold. "There's no way she had you bring all of this just for me."

Raven shrugged and responded, "Maybe she wanted me to have a picnic with you? A mother-daughter picnic seems just the thing she would try to set up."

Gajeel gave a grunt, but sat on the other side of the basket, grabbing a sandwich and starting to chow down.

Levy looked at the basket warily. She was sure the food was okay… but she thought that maybe the nosey take-over mage knew more than she was letting on…

"Hey shrimp! Eat something, or me and string bean here'll eat all the food." He had small pieces of sandwich flying out of his mouth as he spoke.

Instantly putting on the mom voice, Levy automatically responded, "Don't speak with your mouth full! You'll spit food all over the place." She then brushed the food that had made it to her training tank-top off onto the ground and grabbed an orange from the basket.

Raven had sat down and laughed at Gajeel. She loved seeing other people get 'the mom voice', but after Gajeel growled at her for laughing, she shut up and continued to eat her carrot sticks.

The three mages had a fairly uneventful lunch in the clearing. If one didn't know any better… they would have been certain that this was a perfectly happy family picnic. When the last piece of food had been eaten, Gajeel stood up. "Time to get back to training."

Levy waved Gajeel off. "What we need to do is let the food settle in our stomachs. If we get back to intense training right away, one of us is likely to vomit." She was leaning against a tree, with her eyes closed. It almost looked like she was ready for a nap.

Gajeel snorted. "Fine, we don't have to jump right in, but you can't fall asleep either!" He reached a hand towards Levvy who cracked an eye open to look. "You should at least get up and move around a little. Maybe do your stretches again. It'll get your metabolism moving better than sitting there napping will."

Conceding defeat, Levy took Gajeel's hand and let him pull her to her feet. Raven was already on her feet, but made no move to leave. Levy proceeded to do a few light stretches… that Raven mimicked nearby. After a few minutes, Levy started a leisurely paced walk around the clearing… that Raven proceeded to mimic as well.

Gajeel, noticing what the younger wizard was doing, held up a hand. "No… no. You can't train with us."

Levy quickly turned to see her daughter had been following her.

Raven quickly turned to Gajeel. "Aww… Come on! I promise I can keep up! Let me train with you guys… pleeeeeeaaaasssssseeeee?" Raven was holding her hands together and giving Gajeel the old puppy dog eyes.

Gajeel was about to say something when he looked at Raven's face. He had never noticed before… but the string bean had Levy's EXACT face. Gajeel shook his head and looked away from the still pouting Raven. "Well… If it's okay with shorty."

Raven quickly turned her pouting face to her mother, pleading her to let her stay.

Levy looked back and forth between Gajeel and Raven. She couldn't believe Gajeel of all people was weak to the old puppy dog face… She filed away that information for later, and sighed. "If Gajeel says it's okay, I guess you can train with us for today. But the moment you feel you're in danger, I want you to tell us immediately. If you get in our way, you will have to go home. You got that?"

Raven was suddenly all smiles and she nodded furiously. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, excited to train with her idol, Gajeel.

Gajeel let out a frustrated sigh and did a slight facepalm. How did he get himself into this…?

* * *

Gajeel continued to do obstacle course training. Now that he was training two wizards instead of one things were going in an interesting direction. Levy was more aware of what was around her as she wanted to keep her daughter safe… but it was at the expense of occasionally missing things that were headed for herself.

It wasn't a big problem though, as Raven was not only trying to watch her own back, but watch her mother's back as well. It seemed Raven's specialty was working with a partner.

Gajeel guided the training and gave helpful tips to the younger of the two. Gajeel thought Raven's inexperience would be detracting from the training, but Raven was actually paying attention to everything he said, and brought up questions and situations that even he had not thought about.

The trio was so wrapped up in their training that they hadn't even noticed when the sun had gone down. It wasn't until Levy and Raven started running into things they couldn't see that they had decided to pack it up for the night.

Gajeel was smiling at the two ladies as they walked back to their home arm in arm, though he would never admit it. As much as he had always been fond of Levy… He was growing quite fond of Raven as well. For a moment, Gajeel's thoughts turned to a more domestic scene… of him married to Levy… and Gajeel helping Raven out with her problems… like a good dad…

Gajeel shook his head ferociously. There was no way that was going to happen. Levy was married to Jet. Jet was Raven's dad. Gajeel didn't deserve Levy… but if he was honest? He didn't think Jet did either…


	9. The Truth Unmasked

Levy and Raven were walking home arm in arm, laughing together as Raven was excitedly recounting their training session.

"… And that time those daggers were flying at you and I was able to get you out of the way? That was so cool! How does he get the daggers to trigger themselves from the wall he built? Could he build a permanent obstacle course that Layla and I could train on? Or do you think he has to be there for the traps to work? Ooh! Do you think he would be willing to train me and Layla?" Raven was just rapid-fire talking and talking, asking questions, but never giving Levy even a moment to answer.

Levy just laughed at her daughter's infectious enthusiasm. "Calm down! You'll have to ask Gajeel all those questions some time."

Raven's face was red, a combination of the hard day of training they had done, and a slight blush at the embarrassment of not being able to shut up about Gajeel and the training session they had just had. "I'm sorry mom… I just think he's really cool. And you seem to be happy around him too." Raven was smiling widely at her mother.

Levy coughed and tried to say something back. Her face was also very red. "I… he… we're… just good friends. I'm always happy to be around my friends!"

Raven kept smiling as they walked home, "I've never seen you that happy around dad… I've seen you pretty happy around Mrs. Dragneel… but never quite like the smile you have around Gajeel!" Raven seemed really proud of her observation, but it was just making Levy uncomfortable.

Was it really that obvious? Was she just in denial? Trying to ignore the uncomfortable thoughts that were threatening her head, Levy brought the subject back to their training session and Raven was more than happy to ramble on about how awesome it was all the way home.

* * *

The next morning, Levy woke up to find her daughter was still asleep. This was unusual as usually Levy was the last to wake up. She smiled at her daughter who was still tuckered out from the previous day's training. Levy soon found herself in the kitchen and looked around at what they had. Jet usually cooked breakfast if he was there… Raven wasn't a bad cook herself… by Levy was just awful at it. Jet teased her relentlessly about it if she even attempted to make anything. Contemplating between trying to make something for her daughter, or just going to the guildhall to let Mira take care of it… Levy thought it best to just let Mira handle it.

But that did mean that she had to wake Raven up… If she wanted to make sure her daughter had a balanced breakfast. Heading back upstairs, Levy gently rocked Raven awake, who smiled upon seeing her mom.

"G'mornin mom! Dad's coming back today, so I don't have to watch Dru at all! Can I train with you and Gajeel again today? Ooh! Can I bring Layla?" Raven woke up quickly when she got excited.

Levy backed away from her excited daughter to leave her room. "Whoa! Hold your horses young lady, we can talk on the way to the guildhall or over breakfast. I want you to get showered and changed so we can head over there soon.

Raven nodded and got up to get ready for her shower.

Levy returned to her own room to do the same.

After the pair was washed and dressed, they started walking towards the guildhall.

"So… can I train with you guys today?" Raven looked at her mom expectantly.

Levy sighed… she was not looking forward to what she would have to say. "Raven… Jet… your dad is coming back today. I don't think it'll be a good idea for you to train with me today…"

Raven looked heartbroken. "Aww… why not? Dad lets me train with Layla, Heather, and Cobalt!"

Levy chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, trying to find the right words. "They're all your age… He figures you're all only capable of so much… He's… never liked Gajeel… since the moment we met him."

Raven still had a sad look on her face, "What happened when you guys met him? Why wouldn't dad like him?"

Levy knew she didn't want to open that particular can of worms and so attempted to gloss over the incident. "Well, let's just say Gajeel didn't have a whole lot of friends when we first met him…" Levy was certainly uncomfortable with the trajectory of this particular conversation…

Raven looked down at her feet. "I still think that since you're there, he should let me train with you…"

Levy sighed, "Raven… I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell your father about my training with Gajeel… or that I let you join us. I don't think he'd like it very much." Levy was trying very hard to choose her words carefully and not alarm her daughter too much.

Raven thought hard for a moment. "I'm not sure why he'd be so upset… but if you knew he'd be so upset… why'd you do it? You never go out on jobs… and why have you been training with Gajeel?" Her big brown eyes looked directly into Levy's as they stopped walking.

Levy's heart broke seeing the look on her daughter's face. It mirrored her own so much, but she also saw so much of Jet in her. As much as he could make her mad… she still didn't want to hurt him… and seeing her daughter look this way… just hurt. "Well… to be completely honest… I'm going to be helping Gajeel out on a job. We leave tomorrow."

Raven's face suddenly did a 180 and she was smiling like a maniac. "Really?! A job with Gajeel?! Where is it? How long will you be gone? Is there any way I can come too?" She was speaking as fast as she could run and Levy couldn't get a word in edge-wise.

Placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders, Levy stopped Raven from talking. "It's over at Mt Blanchard. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but it shouldn't be a long job… and no, you can't come."

Raven gave her mom a quick pout, but the two of them resumed walking to the guildhall. Looking at her mom, Raven said matter-of-factly, "Dad's not going to like you going on that job… is he?"

"Nope."

Tilting her head, Raven continued, "Well… dad can be kind of a butt sometimes. I'm sure he can deal with you being gone for a few days." She smiled at her mother.

Levy giggled at what her daughter had said and then sighed wistfully, "I sure hope so… I sure hope so."

* * *

After Levy and Raven had breakfast together, in which Levy tried to tease Raven about possibly liking Cobalt Fullbuster, Levy had gone to her secluded table in the guild library. Since they were supposed to leave for Mt Blanchard the next day, Levy and Gajeel spent the morning going over maps of the area, possible timetables of their mission, supplies they might need, and all the information they had on the cave, and the dragon that had previously occupied it.

By lunch time, they had planned out just about all of their trip. Realizing that a few of the supplies they needed were not readily available, Gajeel volunteered to collect anything they didn't have. He would spend most of the afternoon out gathering supplies, so they agreed to just meet back at the guildhall the next day for breakfast and they would leave right after.

Levy's heart was pounding pretty quickly. She hadn't gone on a proper job in fifteen years. She was a little scared… but mostly excited. Nothing beat the feeling of preparing for a job… except maybe coming back victorious after completing said job.

Exiting the library to grab a bite to eat for lunch, Levy noticed that Jet and Droy had both just arrived, being greeted by the many people close to the door. 'Might as well get it over with…'

With a quick hand through her now short hair, Levy walked over to her husband and her old friend, putting on a smile as she did so. "Welcome back guys!" She gave her husband a quick hug. He didn't seem to hug back. Noticing this, Levy backed up.

Jet was staring at Levy's hair in shock and disbelief.

Droy took a moment to look at it and cocked his head to the side. After a moment of contemplation, he gave Levy a huge thumbs up. "You cut your hair back to short! It looks great Levy!" Droy was grinning like an idiot and Levy couldn't help but smile back at him.

Looking back to Jet, Levy started to get a little uncomfortable. She started playing with the tips of her hair and shuffling her feet under her husband's judging gaze.

Jet remained stuck in place… only staring at his wife's new haircut. The tension was palpable.

When it got to be too much for the now surrounding crowd, a few more people decided to chime in positively about Levy's haircut. Grateful for the distraction and positive feedback, Levy tore her eyes from her husband and thanked a variety of guild members for their compliments. Looking back at her husband, Levy thought that she didn't want to deal with a fight at the moment, so she would just ignore the obvious issue. Giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, she asked, "Are you hungry? I was about to grab some lunch." She had pasted the smile back on for the sake of everyone around.

Seeming to finally break out of the trance that he was in, Jet finally responded, "No… no, I haven't eaten anything. Did you want to eat here?"

Giving a small nod, Levy led Jet to a table where they could eat. Jet made a gesture to Mirajane, and in a matter of minutes, there was a lunch in front of both Jet and Levy. They ate in an awkward silence for half of the meal. The rest of the guild seemed to have gone back to whatever they were doing before two thirds of the former Team Shadowgear had returned.

Levvy broke the silence first. "How was your job? Did you have a good time with Droy?"

Jet finished his bite of sandwich and looked Levy right in the eyes. "Why did you cut your hair?" His voice was even and unreadable.

Levy responded in her usual awkward fashion, "I was just thinking it was time for a change, you know… It is really hot outside, the shorter hair seemed the perfect thing for the weather." She let out a small and less than convincing laugh.

Jet furrowed his brow slightly. "And… why are you so tan? A research job wouldn't let you spend enough time outside to get a tan like that…"

Levy wasn't sure what to say to this. She looked at both her arms and saw that they did indeed look quite a bit darker than her normal pasty white complexion. "Huh. I didn't even notice."

Jet's eyebrow twitched just a bit. "But… HOW did it happen? You said you had an important research job."

Levy put her arms back down and looked back at Jet with a bit of an angry pout. "It was beautiful outside, I took some of my books out to the park so I could enjoy the weather!"

"But you just said that it's been really hot outside, which is why you got the haircut…" Jet was almost grilling his wife and she was getting more and more uncomfortable with each question asked, and each lie told.

With her anger starting to rise to the surface to cover her discomfort, Levy's voice started to rise a little, "The weather can be both beautiful and hot! The heat can be a welcome change from the cold and drafty library occasionally… but the long hair sticking to my back could be annoying, so I cut my hair and tanned a little while I read. Is it such a crime to want to bring a little change to my regular routine?" She was practically glaring at Jet now, her half-eaten lunch all but forgotten in front of her.

Jet's anger was rising to match his wife's. "Excuse me if I worry about you while I'm gone! I thought maybe you got into another fight and you had an accident involving your hair. You knew I wouldn't like it and tried to hide it!"

Levy's face cracked under the accusation. It wasn't completely right… but it was close enough to true that it broke Levy's mask of anger for a moment.

Seeing the crack in her defenses, Jet's eyes widened. "That's it isn't it?! You've been fighting while I was gone and tried to hide it!"

Levy knew she had been caught, but didn't want to let Jet have that satisfaction yet. She acted offended at the suggestion, "I can't believe you would think that of me! I've always been truthful through our whole relationship… why would that change now?"

Jet looked as serious as he could, his voice lowering to dangerous levels. "With the way you were acting before I left on the job… I question if it's starting now…"

Wanting to end this particular conversation, Levy grabbed her bag and stormed out of the guildhall, leaving her now forgotten lunch sitting on the table, with a fuming Jet.


	10. Determination

Levy was walking through town with no particular destination. Her mind was racing with thoughts.

'I can't believe he thinks I've been lying to him!'

'Haven't you been lying to him?'

'Why did he have to make such a big deal out of my hair anyway?'

'Everyone else loves it, how does he think it's a sign of the apocalypse?'

'I should apologize for losing my temper…'

'He should apologize for being so suffocating!'

'Why does he get to have all the fun? Surely I can go on a job while he takes care of Raven…'

'You know he'll never let you leave…'

'I need to go… NOW.'

When that last thought came into her head, she saw that she had somehow ended up in front of Gajeel's house. It was in a remote part of town, and not very impressive… but still very Gajeel.

Without thinking, Levy had walked up to Gajeel's front door… and lifted the large steel knocker on the door. It made a loud 'CLANK'.

For a moment, Levy stood in front of the door in silence. She considered turning back… going home… apologizing and going back to the way things were before… But before Levy could do any of those things, the door had opened. Gajeel stood in his doorframe wearing an old pair of jeans that were strategically ripped in a few places and a plain black t-shirt. A black bandana was holding back his long mane of hair.

"What're you… wait… are you crying?" Gajeel went from annoyed to concerned in record time as he noticed the faintest trace of tears in Levy's eyes.

As she looked up at Gajeel, the dam broke and Levy started crying heavily. She fell into Gajeel's chest and he awkwardly placed a hand behind her head in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture.

"You should… you should come inside." Giving a quick glance around to make sure no one saw him bringing the small mage into his house, Gajeel directed her inside. He guided her to a black couch that was about as torn as his jeans.

She reluctantly left the comfort of Gajeel's chest and sat on the old couch. Looking up, he was walking to what appeared to be a kitchen. After a moment, Gajeel returned and offered Levy a glass of water.

With a small hiccup, Levy accepted the water and attempted to drink it.

Gajeel sat in an armchair across from the couch, his red eyes never leaving Levy.

After a few silent moments where Levy managed to calm down her crying and drink more of the water… Gajeel spoke up, "What happened shrimp?" Despite using a slightly derogatory nickname… there was nothing but concern in Gajeel's voice.

Taking another sip of water, and a large breath… Levy finally answered, "Jet's back in town…" Just saying his name caused more tears to well up in her eyes… threatening to cover her face in more salty streaks.

Gajeel raised his hand to indicate she should stop talking. "Say no more. I don't need you falling apart on me again." Unwrapping his bandana from his head, Gajeel handed it to Levy. "Here. You can use this to clean up your face."

Levy tentatively grabbed the bandana with a weak, "thanks…" She started wiping the tears from her eyes and caught the smell of the bandana. It was a little musky, with the distinct aroma of iron. It was… soothing.

Levy sat in Gajeel's living room with him for several minutes in silence. But unlike the silence from the guildhall with Jet, which was tense and awkward… this was a soothing silence. Gajeel didn't force any information out of her if she wasn't ready to talk about it… and Levy could just soak in the calming energy of Gajeel's presence as well as his scent.

Looking up at the aforementioned man, Levy saw that he had never taken his eyes off of her. She had intruded on his last free afternoon before he had to leave on a job… and he was only concerned with how she was doing. Not trying to fix the problem… not trying to get her to admit that it wasn't anything to be upset about… Just… letting her be sad. Letting her express the emotions she was feeling.

After she had calmed her breathing down enough, Levy decided to try and talk. "I'm sorry Gajeel."

"What for?" He was still just watching her, keeping his voice as gentle as possible for the dragonslayer… which wasn't particularly gentle.

Levy looked at her hands, which were now fiddling with the bandana, "You know… for barging in on your last free afternoon before your next job…"

"Our next job." Gajeel was quick to correct her.

Hearing him say that made Levy blush slightly… but it went unnoticed as her face was already so red from the crying.

"I need you to be mentally stable so you can concentrate during our job. If you're going to be like this the whole time, I don't need you." Gajeel said fairly bluntly.

Levy's face filled with shock. Of course that's why he was helping her… He needed her to be normal…

"Also…" Gajeel turned his head away slightly, red tinting his cheeks, "I'm worried about you."

At that, Levy's tears started back up and she launched herself at Gajeel, pulling him into the largest hug the small mage could muster.

"Aw, don't you start back up again!" Gajeel sounded slightly annoyed, but also concerned about why Levy had started crying again.

Her tears gradually turned to laughter as she was now laughing into Gajeel's chest, still holding him in the hug.

Hearing her laughter, Gajeel cracked a small smile and started laughing with her.

Both of their laughter's subsiding, Gajeel brushed away some hair that had fallen into Levy's face. "Now, do you want to talk about what happened? Or do you want to help me finish packing for tomorrow?"

Levvy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tonight."

Gajeel looked at Levy with confusion. "Excuse me?"

Levy looked at Gajeel, determination evident on her face. "I would like to leave tonight."

Gajeel stared at Levy in silence. Determining that it wasn't a joke, he spoke up, "I don't know what happened with speedy, but leaving early just keeps us more on time, so I guess I'm fine with it if you are. You have to finish packing though."

Levy nodded. "Meet at the guildhall in an hour?"

"Make it two… I still need to grab a few things in town."

"Right." Levy was about to turn and leave until she saw the bandana she was still holding. "Gajeel! I still have your bandana!"

Looking over his shoulder at Levy, Gajeel waved his hand in the air nonchalantly, "Keep it. I have more." With a small grin he added, "Though, if you insist on returning it… I do ask that you wash your tears out of it."

Levy held it a little closer to her chest and left the house without another word. She had a lot to get done in only two hours….


	11. A New Path Chosen

Back at her house, Levy was throwing a variety of clothes into a large traveling backpack. It was actually Jet's spare backpack if he needed to have two for some reason, but Levy figured she needed to use it, and so would.

Among the clothes were some toiletries, a sleeping roll, a small pup tent, and a blank notebook with a pen. Gajeel was taking care of their food and water, and Levy was taking care of the books and things needed for the translating work.

Half-way through packing underwear and socks, a small knock was heard at Levy's bedroom door.

Confused, Levy opened the door to find Raven on the verge of tears. "Mom?"

Levy immediately melted into her daughter, pulling her into a very motherly hug, despite Raven still being taller than her. Levy used the most soothing voice she was capable of… which was actually quite soothing. "Shhh… What's wrong baby?"

Giving a small sniff, but resisting the urge to full on cry, Raven managed to squeak out, "Are you leaving me?"

Levy hugged her daughter harder. "No… no I'm not leaving you sweetie. I just need to clear my head. Think some things through… I'm not leaving forever."

Looking her mom in the eyes, Raven continued quietly, "Dad said you were probably going to leave us… that you didn't care about us anymore…"

Levy was trying her best to remain calm and soothing for her daughter's sake… but deep inside… anger raged. "Sweetie, remember when I told you about the job I was going to go on with Gajeel? That's where I'm going. I would never leave you."

Raven wiped her eyes and smiled at her mother. "I thought he was wrong. I knew you would never leave me."

Levy smiled at Raven. "There we go, after all… How can I teach you solid script magic if I don't come back?"

Raven instantly changed her tune. She was now more excited than ever. "Do you really think I can?"

Levy nodded, "It'll take a lot of studying, but if you're willing to put in the work… you should be able to learn at least the basics. Now, would you like to help me finish packing my bag? I need to meet Gajeel at the guildhall so we can leave on our job."

Raven nodded.

Along with some pleasant small-talk, the McGarden ladies managed to finish packing and walked back to the guildhall together.

Despite the time Levy spent at Gajeel's house, it was still fairly early in the afternoon. The sun was shining, and Levy had tied Gajeel's bandana into her hair, holding back the strays in the front. As they reached the door, Levy hesitated. She was early… and if Jet was still in there… there could be a scene…

Raven noticed the indecision on her mother's face and realized what the problem was. Her parents were clearly fighting, and she knew her mother wasn't about to continue it right before leaving on a job. "Hey mom, let me check to see if dad's anywhere in there."

Levy smiled at her daughter and mutely nodded.

Peeking her head in, Raven scanned the guildhall. As far as she could tell, her father was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to Levy she quickly said, "It's clear. I don't see dad anywhere."

Sighing in relief, Levy entered the guildhall with her large backpack of clothes and supplies. A few eyebrows were being raised around the room, following Levy to the bar. When she and Raven sat down, Mira raised an eyebrow as well. "What's with the bag? Need your traveling library today?"

Levy rolled her eyes and gave a quick laugh. "Very funny Mira. If you must know, I'm going out on a job." Levy sounded quite proud of herself as she sat up tall with her announcement.

Mira gave Levy a hearty slap on the back, "Good Job! Welcome back to the game!"

Raven laughed at her mom and the look on her face as Mira slapped her on the back.

The remaining hour flew by fairly quickly. Raven had gone off with her friends to listen to Natsu tell some outrageous old stories that they didn't believe were true. Most people in the guild would swear that every one of them were true, and most of them would have been right.

Levy, however, was getting impatient. She checked her watch periodically, and when the time came, would watch the front door, hoping Gajeel would just waltz in and they could leave.

Fifteen minutes after Gajeel was supposed to meet Levy at the guild, Lucy sidled up to Levy. "Hey Lev, what's with the big backpack? You carrying the library with you now?"

Levy rolled her eyes, "Ha. Ha. Very funny Luce, and Mira already made that joke."

Lucy snapped her fingers, "Rats!"

Levy giggled at Lucy. "No, I don't have a roaming library now, I'm going out on a job."

Lucy gave Levy a thumbs-up. "Good Job Levy! I know a little action should be able to pull you out of this funk you've been in."

Levy looked Lucy in the eyes with surprise. "You noticed?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at her blue haired friend. "Of course I did. Most everyone did. It was hard not to notice you were in a real funk for a while now. But… you're not going alone… right?" Lucy looked at Levy with concern.

Levy waved her friend off. "No way, I doubt I could go on a solo job even if I wanted to."

Lucy cocked her head to one side. "Well, I know you're not going with Jet… and Droy just got back the same time Jet did, so he's not ready to go back out again so soon… Who are you going with?"

Levy was about to respond when the iron dragonslayer himself entered the guildhall with two large backpacks swung over his shoulders. Looking around for only a moment, he approached Levy and nodded to her. "You ready?"

Lucy looked back and forth between Levy and Gajeel. Mirajane smirking at Lucy from behind the bar.

Levy nodded at Gajeel and got up from her stool, hoisting her heavy pack onto her shoulders. Levy looked back at Lucy and quickly said, "I'm going with Gajeel. Bye Lucy!"

Lucy gave a weak wave back, not entirely sure how to feel about it. Mira was smirking, but also giving a friendly wave as they started to leave the guildhall.

'This is going a lot smoother than I thought.' Levy was smiling as she followed Gajeel. It didn't take long before their exit was interrupted…

"WHAT?!"

Levy stopped when she heard the loud voice coming from behind her. She turned to see Jet standing by the bar next to Lucy and Mirajane. His entire face was red and he seemed to be furious.

Noticing Levy had stopped walking, Gajeel turned around to see what had happened.

Jet turned to see Levy and Gajeel holding large backpacks. They were almost out the door. Almost everyone in the guild was watching the stand-off. Jet's loud voice had turned a lot of heads. "Levy! I thought we agreed you wouldn't go on any dangerous jobs!" He was clearly yelling, and Levy flinched at the noise.

Mustering up her courage, Levy responded snidely with, "No, YOU agreed I wouldn't go on any jobs that weren't here in Magnolia. Dangerous or not, you never trusted me with even leaving the city!"

The audience to their domestic squabble was rapt with attention. The rumor mill was getting a lot of answers today.

Jet took a step towards Levy. His voice had lowered a bit in volume, but didn't lose any of its anger or fury. "I just wanted to protect you! I never wanted to see you get hurt again. Don't you trust me to keep our family safe?!"

"Safe?! You wanted to feel good about being our hero, our protector. You aren't strong enough to do it on your own, so you keep us close, under the guise of 'safety'. You don't even care if it was slowly killing me on the inside!" Levy's voice was rising with her own anger, a few tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Gajeel was tired of waiting and placed a calming hand on Levy's shoulder. "Hey, ignore him. We have a job to do."

Looking up at Gajeel, Levy knew that he only wanted to get her away from a rampaging Jet. She nodded and turned to leave with him.

As Levy turned around Jet was yelling again. "Of all the people you could have chosen to go on a job with to rebel… why the hell did you choose fucking Gajeel?! Did you forget what happened last time you went on a job with him?! Did you forget what he did when he was in Phantom Lord?!"

Levy froze. Gajeel turned and stared at Jet with a fury in his eyes seldom seen. The spectators had gasped at what Jet had said. No one had even mentioned the name Phantom Lord in over a decade… It was an unspoken subject.

Before Gajeel could attack Jet, Levy put a calming hand on his chest, and turned back to Jet. With as much civility as Levy could muster, she spoke, "Why Gajeel? He was the only one who still believed I was a worthy fighter. Everyone else forgot what I was capable of… but not Gajeel. He knows my skills and he knows my weaknesses. Right now? I feel safer going to a dangerous mountain into an unknown cave with Gajeel, than I do staying here with you." Levy turned to leave once again. Gajeel was looking at Levy with a look of mixed pride and… happiness. He gave a quick smirk to Jet and turned to leave behind Levy.

By now, every single pair of eyes in the guild was watching the spectacle. Whispers were starting up in the crowd, talking about what was happening. Some were shocked, some acted like they knew it was going to happen the whole time. Jet was shaken to his core by what Levy had just said. He had only one last chance…

"LEVY! IF YOU WALK OUT THAT DOOR WITH GAJEEL YOU'RE NEVER WELCOME BACK IN MY HOUSE AGAIN! You can go on any other job you want… We can talk all of this out… Just… not Gajeel. Anyone but Gajeel…" Jet's voice was cracking. Tears were threatening to pour down his face.

Levy looked at Jet's pleading eyes. This was a big decision… there was no turning back. A thought of her daughter flashed across her mind. She had promised to never leave her… what was she doing… Levy took a small step back towards Jet.

In a flash, Raven had jumped over the crowd and grabbed Levy's hands with her own. There was moisture in her eyes, but she had a determined look on her face. "Mom… You don't have to do this. You don't have to come back to dad."

Levy blinked. "But… what about you?"

Raven shook her head. "Don't worry about me mom, you've spent more than enough time on that. Now… it's your time. Time to take what you want out of life… and I've never seen you happier than when I saw you training with Gajeel."

Levy hugged her daughter close and they both had silent tears stream down their faces.

Jet was looking at his crumbling family in shock. He couldn't believe that his daughter… his own flesh and blood… was abandoning him. "Rave? Why?"

Raven turned to her father. "Dad… I still love you, but the side of you I saw today… made me lose all respect for you. I think you need some time to figure a few things out." Turning to Levy, she asked, "Hey mom, is there any room on your job for one more?"

Levy hugged her daughter and chuckled. "Afraid not kiddo. You may just want to stay at a friend's house tonight. Maybe Lucy and Natsu will let you stay with Layla tonight."

Raven smiled at her mom, "It was worth a shot." Looking up at Gajeel, Raven smiled some more, "Hey Gajeel, take care of my mom will ya?"

Gajeel smiled at Raven and nodded. "Will do, string bean."

Letting go of Raven, Levy waved to all the assembled guild members. Most of them started clapping or cheering, and Levvy and Gajeel walked out the front door… headed to the next chapter of Levy's life. One that was a long time coming.

—————————————

A/N- There is an Epilogue after this chapter! I'll even share some of my thoughts on the story after, as well as how this evolved from its original premise.


	12. Epilogue

"You seem to know what the choice is. The cards don't tell me who it is… but you clearly already know the answer. You just need to figure out if you want safety… or excitement."

-RIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG-

An arm flailed from under a set of navy blue covers. After hitting its mark, the noisy alarm clock shut off.

Levy had dreamed about that fateful card reading again… Though now it didn't bring about dread or fear.

A loud knock on the bedroom door was followed by a booming voice, "Hey shrimp! It's time to get up. I'm not arranging string bean's party all by myself.

"Ugggghhhh… fine. I'm getting up!" Levy McGarden emerged from the covers, her short hair a complete mess.

It had been four months since Levy and Raven McGarden had moved out of their home. Gajeel had felt partially responsible for their need to move so quickly, and so had offered them his spare bedrooms. They weren't large, but they were peaceful.

Hopping out of bed, Levy tried to fit in her morning routine as quickly as possible. With Raven staying over at the Dragneel home overnight, things went smoother than normal, though Panther Lilly was still a sink hog.

When Levy finished washing and getting dressed, she found a slightly agitated Gajeel leaning on a wall in the living room waiting impatiently. "I'm ready to go. Thanks for waiting."

Gajeel gave a small nod. "Took ya long enough. We only have about two hours to get everything ready. Let's go."

Levy nodded and they headed off to the Fairy Tail guildhall, walking fairly close to each other the whole time.

* * *

Fairy Tail was as lively as ever… but they all seemed to be smiling and working together on something rather than fighting. There were two other faces missing from the usual crowd as well. Shortly after Levy left Jet, he had left the guild. He had tried to get the guild on his side of the matter while Levy was gone with Gajeel, but it seemed that only one person in the guild had his back… Droy had also left the guild, wanting to support his best friend. Though, Droy often questioned whether that was a good idea… He was now stuck at home with his kid full-time, and Jet was constantly dropping by and complaining at their lack of work. They had been invited to the day's festivities out of formality, but no one expected them to show up.

"Can someone please hang the flowers on the columns?" Levy had a clipboard in her hand and was directing a number of people around the guildhall. "I need the orange ribbons to be trailing from the rafters. I don't want anyone to spike the punch bowl at this party, she's only turning 15. I'm looking at you Cana!" Levy looked around the room, "Has anyone seen Gajeel?"

Mira spoke up from behind the bar where she had been preparing the non-spiked punch for the party. "I think I saw him go to the backstage area a little while ago with his guitar."

Levy shook her head. As much as she may not want him to perform, she knew Raven would go nuts for it. Looking at her clipboard, she started walking around the room, checking things off of a list.

"You all set-up Reedus?"

"Oui." Reedus nodded, his paints set up by an easel. He may not be able to move quite the way he used to, but Reedus was still a fantastic painter.

Passing by Cana, she saw that the card mage seemed to have laid out cards the same way she had during that fateful reading.

"Hey Cana, what're you lookin at?" Levy leaned in.

Cana raked her hand through her hair. "I've been trying to remember exactly what the cards said when I last did a reading for you. After the whole debacle with Jet a few months back, I've been trying to remember…"

"That's weird… I dreamed about that reading a week before the Jet debacle, and again last night." Levy thought back to the last few times she dreamed about her reading.

Cana looked at Levy with a bit of a serious expression. "You… you dreamed about a reading I did more than once? Recently?"

Levy nodded. "I wasn't sure why it came up at first… but I think maybe I was trying to find meaning in my life, and that reading was such a pivotal point… I was trying to do the same as you. Trying to see if we missed something the first time."

"Exactly! Did I give you bad advice? Did I read them wrong?" Cana seemed to be wracking herself with guilt.

Levy shook her head and grabbed Cana's arm reassuringly. "No… I think you read them right. I think I just had the subjects confused with one another." Levy smiled at the distraught card mage.

Cana smiled back at Levy, "Thanks Levy. Ever since my own divorce, I keep second guessing every reading I've ever done involving love. I'm always wondering how many people I made miserable with inaccurate readings."

"Don't you dare, your readings are the best around! But sometimes people interpret them the way they want it to be interpreted. Don't let it get you down."

Cana smiled back and picked her cards back up. "Thanks again. I feel a lot better. I guess it's time for another keg." And with that, Cana disappeared to the bar.

Levy returned to finishing up her checklist, when Heather and Cobalt Fullbuster clamored up to her.

"They're on their way! You only have about five minutes left, assuming they walk and don't speed over here." Heather was slightly out of breath as she gave her report.

"Lucy is trying very hard to keep Natsu from challenging them to a race… it hasn't been easy but I think she's succeeding." Cobalt was keeping level headed, and tried to look calm and collected.

Levy nodded to the twins. "Good job guys. You should get into position, knowing Raven and Layla… we may not have the full five minutes."

Pulling out her light pen, Levy pointed upwards to the ceiling and wrote, "GLITTER". The word appeared for only a moment and shined brightly. Everyone in the guildhall stopped what they were doing and looked towards the door expectantly.

About two minutes passed until the door burst open. Layla was riding Raven's shoulders and as they stopped, Natsu tripped over them and they all barreled to the ground. Lucy walked in only a moment behind and shook her head at the pile.

Getting over the shock of how everyone entered, everyone who was waiting in the guild yelled, "Happy Birthday!" Though, since many had been drinking, and they had no one leading the chant formally… it sounded more like a jumbled mess.

Raven untangled herself from the pile of dragonslayer she was caught in and looked around. Her eyes were wide as she took in the smiles of just about every guild member who was currently in town.

After a moment of gawking in silence, Levy stepped forward and gave the message a lot clearer. "Happy Birthday sweetie." Then Levy pulled her daughter into a hug and the whole guild cheered… or at least the drunk ones did. They didn't need an excuse to keep drinking, but they took one whenever it presented itself.

"Awwww… Mmmmmoooommmmm….." Raven blushed slightly in embarrassment.

Cobalt and Heather walked up to Raven as she let go of her mom and they were pulled into a hug as well. "We both helped keep you away." Heather was a little snarky, but warm to her frenemy.

Raven gave a small laugh, then the small pink-haired dragonslayer glomped onto the back of Raven's neck. "I helped too!" Layla was grinning like a maniac while she hugged her best friend. The two teens broke down into giggles.

Turning back to her mother, Raven asked, "Where's Gajeel?"

But before Levy could say a single word, the lights went out in the whole guildhall, and a single spotlight shone on the stage. Gajeel Redfox was in a white suit, sunglasses, and a fedora. He strummed a chord on his guitar to draw attention to what he assumed, was the best thing in the room.

Many of the adults in the guild groaned, but every teen scrambled to get as close to the stage as possible.

Gajeel grinned widely as he spoke into the microphone he had set up. "I'm the Black Steel Gajeel, here to sing a song especially for the birthday girl… Raven McGarden." When he had said her name, a small spotlight appeared over Raven and Gajeel had looked over his sunglasses and gave a small wink in her direction.

Raven was blushing, and stood still in the spotlight, suddenly very nervous… and excited. All the other teens seemed to be various combinations of excited and jealous.

Gajeel sang a very bombastic song, that all the kids seemed to love. Raven's nerves were very soon forgotten as she danced with her friends, clearly enjoying herself.

Many of the adults ordered extra strong drinks from the bar, hoping that Gajeel was only doing the one song, but preparing in case he was doing a whole set.

After about eight minutes, Gajeel's song came to a close. The teens cheered with joy, and the adults cheered for the fact it was over. Even Levy was letting out a sigh of relief when Gajeel said, "Happy Birthday string bean," and the lights came back up.

The rest of the party rolled on without a hitch. Only the occasional fight broke out, but they generally stayed small, and the birthday girl seemed to be enjoying them.

Throughout the day, various people who knew Raven would give her birthday gifts. She ended up with a few books, some hair accessories, gift certificates to a few local shops, and a nice bracelet from Heather and Cobalt.

As dinner rolled around, the party was still roaring, but many seemed to have forgotten what the party was for. Fairy Tail just loved an excuse to party. This sat just fine with Raven, as it meant she could just relax and enjoy the remaining party.

Raven was sitting at a table near the edge of the room sipping on some punch. Even with her energy, this party was starting to wear her out.

Levy and Gajeel approached her.

"Hey Raven! Did you get any good presents?" Levy was smiling as she slid into the seat next to her.

Raven smiled and nodded. "I got some nice stuff. Though, you may have to help me with the book Freed got me." She pulled out a book titled, 'Basic Rune Traps'. "I think he saw me carrying around a light pen since you've been teaching me basic solid script."

Levy giggled, "That sounds like Freed. He gave me the same book when I first joined the guild. I was never particularly great with rune traps, but they can be extremely useful."

Gajeel snorted at the book. "Sounds like homework to me. That's not something you get someone for their birthday."

Levy side-eyed Gajeel playfully, "And a song is?"

Gajeel grinned and responded equally playfully, "You know it shorty."

"I really did love the song you sang for me Gajeel! It's always been one of my favorites!" Raven was smiling at Gajeel as she tried to ignore the obvious flirting that was happening.

Gajeel turned back to Raven, "Thanks string bean, but that was just the entertainment for your party. This is your present." Gajeel pulled a small velvet pouch out of one of his pockets.

Raven and Levy's eyes both widen as they look at the mysterious pouch Gajeel seemed to conjure up.

Handing it to Raven, it dropped into her hand with a gentle 'thud'.

Opening the pouch, Raven pulled out a small iron dragon. The detail on the jewelry was quite intricate. It even had two small gemstones for its eyes. One topaz, and one ruby. It was attached to a thin leather chord to make a necklace.

Marveling at the necklace Gajeel had given her, Raven had gone speechless.

When Levy saw the necklace she turned to Gajeel. "Did you make that? It's beautiful."

Gajeel nodded and before he knew what was happening, Raven was hugging him as hard as she could.

"Thank you. It's beautiful. I'll…. I'll treasure it always." Raven's eyes looked close to tears as she smiled ear-to-ear at the iron dragonslayer.

Patting her head, he nodded. Noticing the tears starting to well up he spoke, "Hey now, don't you go gettin all teary eyed on me or I'll have to take it back."

Raven let out an involuntary laugh and she wiped the baby tears out of her eyes.

"You got it boss." She winked at Gajeel and sat back down next to her mother.

Levy grabbed Raven's hand and looked her in the eye, smiling, but getting a bit serious. "Now Raven, I know these past few months haven't been easy. Being caught between two parents in divorce isn't something I ever wanted for you." Raven grabbed their clasped hands with her free hand and Levy continued, "Anyway, I wasn't sure what I could get you for your birthday… so I'm just going to ask you. What would you like for your birthday? I'll try my best to accommodate."

Raven looked thoughtful for only a brief moment. Looking back and forth between her mother and Gajeel, Raven had known what she was going to ask for a while now. "I want to go on a job with the two of you."

Levy blinked with minor shock. Gajeel just let out a faint, "Gi-hee."

"Are… are you sure that's what you really want?" Levy was a little nervous, Gajeel already had to help her on their missions since she was still training back up to her old levels, but if he had to watch both of them?

Raven nodded furiously. "It's all I want in the whole world!"

"Okay, you can come with us…" Raven started to look excited until Levy finished, "If Gajeel says it's okay."

At that, Raven turned to Gajeel and gave her very best puppy-dog expression.

Glancing at her face for only a moment, Gajeel said, "Alright string bean, you can come with us… if I get to choose the job."

Raven's face lit up with excitement for a moment before she thought of something. "Hey, you're going to pick a REAL job right? I don't want to go on one of those local or easy jobs… I can do those with my friends…"

Gajeel smirked and looked at Raven while the fangs in his smile shone bright, "Black Steel Gajeel never picks the easy jobs."

Raven was now bouncing up and down with excitement. Immediately, she rushed across the guildhall to tell her friends about the big news.

'Gajeel really is great with Raven…' Levy thought as she watched her daughter talk animatedly with her friends. 'And he also kinda saved me from Jet…Maybe it is time for me to move on….' Levy was now looking at Gajeel.

Very slowly, Levy inched her hand towards Gajeel's on the table, but before her hand could reach its destination… Gajeel's hand had grabbed Levy's. She looked at their hands, and then up into his eyes. He was looking at her with a very gentle smile. It was a rare moment for the dragonslayer. She smiled back at him and they both looked back out over the guild just in time to see Raven walk into the library with Layla…

* * *

Layla shut the door to the library after she invited Raven in for a little bit of quiet.

"It sure is rowdy out there huh? I can't believe your dad and Heather's dad challenged each other to a shirtless pose-off." Raven was laughing at the memory.

"Y…yeah… that was pretty funny." Layla's voice was clearly nervous.

Raven noticed the change in her friend's normally loud and confident personality. "Hey Lay? Are you okay? I know you wanted to give me my present, but you don't have to be nervous. You're my best friend and I'll love whatever it is." She was smiling widely.

Layla turned to look at Raven, her face a deeper pink than her hair. Without warning, Layla stood on her tip-toes and kissed Raven. The orange haired mage was shocked to say the least.

After a moment, Layla pulled away. Raven's face was unreadable. Layla stared at her face for a moment, before disappointment showed up on her face. Whispering a quiet, "I'm sorry…" Layla turned to leave.

At that moment, Raven grabbed Layla's wrist and turned her back around to face her. Before Layla could say anything, Raven had bent over and kissed Layla.

It was Layla's turn to be shocked, but it only lasted a moment as Layla leaned into the kiss and they both embraced.

When the two separated, they were both blushing furiously.

"What does…?"

"Does that…?"

Both girls seemed too nervous to talk and looked towards the ground.

Raven looked up, "Does this mean… that we're dating?"

Layla looked up at Raven, "Would… you like that?"

Raven smiled and nodded.

Layla smiled that patented Dragneel smile and launched herself towards Raven. Layla gave her a big dragon-sized hug and gave her another quick kiss on the lips.

Raven was also smiling widely and grabbed Layla's hand. They proceeded to open the library door to leave, but were surprised by the fact that the door seemed to hit someone. Looking behind the door a moment later, Levy was on the ground rubbing her nose as she had been obviously knocked over by the door.

"Mom?! What were you doing behind the door?!" Raven sounded incredulous.

"Well… I…" Levy was at a bit of a loss for words.

"Don't worry about it Rave! You know your mom is always in the library for one reason or another, we probably just caught her on her way in." Layla was in too good a mood for anyone to have any kind of argument. "Now come on! I hear Mira's bringing out your cake soon!" And with that, Layla lead Raven away from the library, never once letting go of her hand, afraid that it was all a dream and that it would all disappear if she let go.

Levy got up from the ground, lightly rubbing her nose, as she watched her daughter walk away, hand-in-hand with her best friend… or I guess now it was girlfriend?

Still rubbing her nose, Levy returned to the table Gajeel was sitting at.

"I told you, you shouldn't snoop." Gajeel sounded a little smug as he took a swig of the beer Lissana had brought him.

"I just wanted to know what Raven was up to… and it turns out she's dating someone now…" Levy glanced back over the crowd, but it was impossible to see her daughter amongst the people trying to get a slice of cake.

Gajeel raised one of his pierced eyebrows. "Oh? Who is he?"

"She. She's dating a girl." Levy corrected him matter-of-factly.

Gajeel paused for a second but shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay, who is she then?"

"Layla Dragneel."

Gajeel did a small spit-take with the beer he had been drinking. "What?! The kid of flame brain and bunny girl?!"

Levy looked at Gajeel. "Is that… a problem?"

Gajeel mumbled something about female dragons and resumed drinking his beer.

Levy shook her head and looked back over to her daughter, who was now visible again.

Raven and Layla were feeding each other cake using their hands. Most of it ended up in their faces, and before you knew it, a food fight broke out.

Trying to duck the incoming cake, Levy got up from her chair and made to leave the hall. Gajeel moved to follow, and tried to block the cake that was headed towards Levy.

* * *

After a few minutes of hectic dodging and weaving, Levy and Gajeel were outside of the guildhall. The sun had just set, and stars were starting to become visible overhead.

"You okay shrimp?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Levy looked up at Gajeel and held back a laugh. "It looks like you didn't fare quite as well."

Gajeel had various globs of cake and frosting about his person, due to trying to block any of it from hitting Levy.

Gajeel grinned, "Dragons gotta protect those they care about."

Levy giggled, "And what about Raven? Doesn't she need protecting?"

"Ah, she's got her own dragon now." Gajeel was looking into Levy's eyes.

As Levy started to stare into Gajeel's eyes, she softy said, "So are you my dragon?"

"Yes…"

Both Levy and Gajeel had leaned into each other… and at that soft admission, they were kissing under the starlight.

Breaking apart, Gajeel smirked and licked a small amount of frosting off of Levy's nose.

Levy gave a small squeal and with an evil look in her eye, retaliated by licking a bit of frosting off of Gajeel's ear.

A small growl escaped Gajeel's throat, and in a deep voice, he leaded into Levy's ear, "You think we should give Lilly back his own room?"

Levy just gave a silent nod, unable to take her eyes off of Gajeel.

Gajeel leaned in for another kiss and Levy was more than happy to oblige. They kissed deeply in front of the guildhall for a few minutes, leaving Levy breathless when they broke apart. Gajeel leaned into her ear once more, "You should let Raven know we're going home. She can find her way by herself."

Levy pouted at Gajeel for a moment before walking back into the guildhall. The food fight had ended… but nobody had won. The hall was covered in not only cake but a variety of other foods as well. Scanning the scene of food carnage, Levy found her daughter.

"Hey Raven, I'm going to go ahead and head home, Gajeel and I are going to research jobs in the morning to find one that'll be perfect for us. You can stay as late as you like, but please remember to get some sleep."

Raven nodded at her mother and fell back into the giggling pile that was her friends.

Emerging from the guildhall, she nodded at Gajeel.

The two mages started walking back to Gajeel's house, when suddenly Levy felt a hand grab her ass.

Turning to Gajeel she gave him a light slap on the shoulder.

Grinning, Gajeel held up a piece of cake. "I was just trying to remove this cake. You didn't think I had… other plans… did you?" Gajeel was smirking, his voice dripping with fake innocence.

Both Levy and Gajeel laughed for a moment, and then continued walking… but now with Gajeel's arm around Levy's shoulders.

'Yeah… definitely time to move on.' Levy snuggled into Gajeel's chest as they headed home in the chilly night air.

—————————————————

A/N- Hello! I'm actually really proud of this story and enjoy reading it myself multiple times, despite already knowing everything that happens.

Fun fact, this story was originally supposed to be a one-shot. I just started writing with the premise of Cana doing a reading, and Levi having to make a choice between the predictable ending (Jet) or the wild child (Gajeel). It was supposed to be a quick look into her life after making the choice, and then it will have all been a dream or a vision or something. Then she would make the right choice in the 'true' timeline.

But I fell in love.

I fell in love with the children. Even if Layla, Heather, and Cobalt would still exist in the regular timeline, I would lose Raven. I just couldn't do that to myself, or to Levi. So I changed the ending a bit. I had also written about 26,000 words at some point and figured, yeah... this ain't no one-shot.

I love Gajeel becoming a stepdad and think he would do great. I have some ideas of one-shot stories with these characters, but I'm not sure if I should write them.

After I changed the ending, I actually changed the wording of the beginning to reflect the fact that she just read it all wrong.

If anyone wants to chat about this story, feel free to message me or leave a review! This one lives in my head a lot.

One of the things I struggled with the most when writing this story was the title. It was "Untitled Gajevvy Fic" for well over a year. It wasn't until I went to post it online that I forced myself to think of one. Thinking of the paths mentioned at the beginning of the story, and how she chose "wrong" I figured "A Path Corrected" worked perfectly. It's correcting the mistake she made in her youth.


End file.
